A New Lease on Death
by SoniaBladeToole
Summary: Set in an AU where Eric never meets Sookie. Featuring an original character with a little bit of a strange side. What happens when a leasing agent from Arlington meets a viking from Shreveport? Rated M for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, this is my first fan fiction ever and of course it'd be about the Southern Vampire Mysteries. I've recently read all ten books and A Touch of Death but if I get anything wrong, please excuse me. It's set in an AU where Sookie and Eric haven't even met. Played out I know but I wanted to have fun with the story and the universe C. Harris has created. Rated M for later chapters. Enjoy and review. **

"Thank you for calling Spring Valley apartments, this is Joceline DeLon, how may I help you?" My voice was void of all emotion safe for a pang of false happiness. On the other end of the line a male voice inquired about our move-in specials and I looked at the post-it note stuck to my computer monitor. "Right now we're running a special on our one bedroom units, the deposit and application fee is a total of 100 dollars, regularly it's a 200 dollar deposit with an application fee of 25 dollars a person." I attempted at sounding homey and it just wasn't working. The stranger's voice sounded intrigued, when he replied back that it was a good deal, I shrugged unseen. "Sure is, and if you like you can come in and I can show you one of our units that available for move in immediately." In my head I could hear my manager Lena getting onto me about my quota of four leases by the end of next week, also the commission checks I get each month don't hurt either.

"Do you have any specialty apartments for vampires? A friend of mine asked me to call for him, says he was recommended here." My eyes suddenly thinned and I bit my bottom lip. Ever since vampire came out of the coffin two years ago business had become a little more stressful, but I do suppose for any real estate business, not just mine, things were a lot different having to work around a prospect that can only view your property at night. But the Great Revelation was a good thing for the most part as far as I was concerned. Countless vampires could stop sleeping in the ground and fatten up my paycheck by leasing apartments.

"Actually we do, here at Spring Valley we have two buildings customized for vampires with one and two bedroom floor plans." My voice had heightened slightly as I saw dollar signs swarm in my head. We got double commission for vampire leases because the deposit is twice as expensive for them, anyone with a brain can understand why. "If he is interested in seeing what we have available I can set up an appointment for tonight." I looked over to my left at Lena's office to check and see if she was busy. I would have to get it approved with her beforehand.

"Sounds fine, he's available at nine-thirty, if that's alright with you?" He answered and I felt a smile creep onto my face. An extra hundred dollars to play around with next month seemed more and more inevitable. Showing units to vampires was scary, true, but money is money and I'd never had to do it until now anyways so it wasn't much of an issue.

"One moment, I have to speak to my manager, do you mine holding?"

"No problem."

I put him on hold and sprang up from my desk, darting to Lena's office and knocking on the doorframe. She waved me in and I could tell she knew I was up to something. "I need you to approve an appointment for tonight at nine-thirty for a vampire prospect." My voice remained calm and Lena shrugged.

"Fine, but you know the procedure."

I nodded then walked back to my desk, taking a breath before returning to my phone call. "Hello sir?"

"Yes?"

"I am approved for the appointment, if you don't mind I have to get some information from you. Oh, and as well, the special for our vampire units is 200 instead of 100, but it's a lot better than the 400 dollars for the regular deposit." I added as a grabbed a pen and steadied it over my stack of post-it notes.

"That's fine, what information do you need?"

"If I could get you name, address and phone number please." I asked gently, and upon receiving the information jotted it down. "As well as the vampire's name, current residence, and a phone number to be reached by." Again the answers were written down. "Thank you, and be sure to tell your friend that we require that a photograph be taken before we show the apartment, once I return safely to the office the photograph can be deleted, it's safety procedure, I hope he'll understand."

The phone call ended pleasantly, Mr. Reese, the caller agreeing with the reasoning and assuring me his friend would be alright with it. I hopped up out of my seat and went to ready some paperwork for my appointment, if tonight went well, I definitely had to go out this weekend and celebrate; it's incredibly hard to get a vampire lease, and it looks good to corporate. Becoming assistant manager was getting closer and closer. Hello pay raise.

The office closed at six o'clock, as it would normally, Lena had a nice conversation with me about safety and what she did when she had her first vampire prospect a year ago as we locked up and I nodded politely as she talked. I was sure I could handle myself, not all vampires were Vlad Tepes I was sure. On the whole ride home I was going through selling points and other things I'd need to remember when I got there later on tonight. I almost missed my turn in I was so entangled in my own thoughts.

As I pulled into my parking spot I could see my cat, Jean, looking for me in my window and I felt my mood brighten considerably. Ever since my husband died two and a half years ago in Iraq I didn't have anyone around the house to show me affection aside from my furry companion. God I missed my husband so much. We got married when I was twenty and he died when I was only twenty four. I hated the Army for taking him away, those selfish bastards. He would have come home in two months after that horrible day, just two months. Would have. I shook my head to clear the thoughts. I didn't feel like crying for two hours tonight. When I unlocked the front door and walked inside she was already rubbing against my feet and a soft purr made itself present. I picked her up and looked into her large hazel-green eyes. "If everything goes good tonight, I'm getting you a new play post." I said, giving her a nose to nose kiss and setting her back down.

After eating dinner and watching an HBO show for a bit I was up and getting ready to show the apartment. First I pulled off my short sleeved uniform shirt that had Spring Valley embroidered on the left breast, it's Texas so you have to wear short sleeves in this heat. I then replaced it with a black button down blouse, leaving the top two buttons undone. Sex appeal would be necessary; vampires liked that sort of thing, right? I'd seen vampires in person but I'd never talked to one. When they came out of the coffin I was stunned and amused but I didn't hate them like the Fellowship of the Sun did. I couldn't stand that just because I was from Arlington, a city half an hour away from Dallas, people from out of town assumed I was a part of their church cult. But I didn't go grovel at their feet either; I didn't find the fang banger appeal to my liking.

After straightening my hair a tad in the bathroom I touched up my make-up a little bit. In the mirror I could see my caramel skin had its usual glow, I loved my skin color. Being mixed with Asian, black and Hispanic gave me an exotic look that I'd never seen anywhere else. It was a shame I'd never been able to have children before my husband passed. He was Irish and German and we would have made gorgeous babies. As I put on my lip gloss Jean sauntered into the room and jumped up onto the counter. "Hey boo." I never used that phrase until I got the cat, I personally found it ridiculously ghetto sounding. She rubbed against my arms and tried her hardest to grab my attention. "I'll be back in a little while, okay." I said as I picked her up and put her on the ground. "So you behave." And with that I put on my business heels, grabbed my purse and headed out the door.

As I pulled into the parking lot I saw a man standing by the front office, he was about five feet ten inches and wore what I would call business leisure. Not as classy as business casual but not jeans and a t-shirt either. As I exited my car and locked it I put on my fake smile and walked over to him, displaying my white, braces-straightened teeth. "I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long, I lost track of time while I was getting ready." I said, alienating the office key on my key ring. The vampire smiled at this, I suppose he was flattered.

I gave him a quick once over, he was attractive to say the least, not overly so, just attractive. His skin was pale, duh, and he had shockingly green eyes, his pouty lips drawn into a hard line. From first glance he looked human, but I guess that was a good thing or it would have been a good thing, back when vampires had been in the shadows. His hair was unkempt and a little shaggy but combed out of his face and it held a dull brown hue. His body was thin but held some muscles, I couldn't see them as he was wearing long sleeves but I was sure they were there, sometimes you can just tell. It was a nice package I admit, but I wasn't going to drool over him.

As I walked by him to get to the front door I felt a tinge over my skin and it made me suppress a shiver. I'd never felt that before, is that what it felt like if a vampire was near you? I had no idea, if so, I guess it was a good thing. I couldn't lie, I was a little nervous, I'd heard stories about unfortunate leasing agents who were bitten at night time appointments, and some killed. I guess we were easy targets, being along in an empty apartment with them.

"Don't worry; I wasn't waiting but five minutes."

"Oh great, I apologize again, you're my first night time appointment. My manager usually gets all the vampire leases, I guess she's lucky." The words were absent minded and I cursed myself. Now I sounded like I was too excited to show him the apartment. Great job Joceline. I opened the door and ran over to the alarm system to shut it off, turning to the vampire and waving him inside. "Come on in, I've got the paperwork ready."

He entered hesitantly, looking around with interest as I turned on the lights and walked over to my desk. "Now, let me just confirm some information with you, your name is Davis LaBeau correct?" I asked, looking down at my post-it than looking back up, he nodded. "And this is your current address and a valid phone number?" I continued, picking up the small square sheet and handing it to him. He grabbed it gently and looked it over, returning it to me after a short moment.

"Yes."

"Great, now if you don't mind, I'm sure your friend Greg told you we have to have a picture on file in case you attempt anything, not that you would, it's just procedure. People can never be too careful." I sounded like I was babbling, was I really this nervous. He nodded again, a man of few words I see. I grabbed up the office camera and snapped a picture, stowing the camera away in my desk drawer and locking it. Not that it would stop him from getting it if he wanted, vampires were too strong for their own good.

"Are you interested in a one bedroom or two?" I asked, grabbing a brochure and handing it to him. He accepted it and looked it over while I stood behind my desk, half checking him out half waiting patiently. You can't blame me; I haven't had sex in over two years. "Right now our vampire units are going for 895 a month with 200 due at signing for the one bedroom 985 for the two bedrooms, the water and trash is included with the rent. Our other residents have no problem with having vampires on the property and we have a courtesy officer living on site. The gas station at the corner sells TruBlood and the less expensive brand, I can't remember the name."

"I'm interested in a one bedroom."

"Okay great, which floor plan?" I asked as I walked from behind my desk to be closer to him so I could see which one he pointed out. Okay, the v-2 floor plan. "Very nice, that's our most popular one for vampires." As I was talking I could see his eyes were trailing to the opening in my blouse and I couldn't help but grin. I had this in the bag.

"If you'll just fill out this card for me I'll go get the key and we'll go look at the apartment." As I spoke I handed him a medium sized piece of paper, along with a pen and gave him a hand gesture to the chair in front of my desk, where he immediately afterwards took a seat and got to work.

"If you don't mind my asking, what is your name?"

I gave myself a mental slap on the forehead. How rude of me, thank goodness he wasn't a mystery shopper. "I'm Joceline. Joceline DeLon. I apologize for not introducing myself earlier."

"What are you; you have a very different look." Well well, someone was getting a little personal with the questions. I stepped away and gave him a smile. He mirrored it and I almost expected his fangs to run out. I could feel my pulse quicken and I turned away to get the keys.

"I'm Asian, black and Hispanic. A tri-breed." I answered, walking to the key locker on the far wall. "Most people think I'm from Ethiopia or the Philippines." I added unlocking it and grabbing the right key.

Moments later we were in the apartment and I was showing him around. He liked it and spoke of how nice the small kitchen was and how he liked the large closet. I would nod and smile to him and he did the same back, always studying the features of my face when he did. It didn't bother me; a lot of people did it. I was a pretty woman, in a different refreshing sort of way. Everyone was used to white girls with blond hair and blue eyes. Not that I had anything against them, I just personally thought that look was getting old with men these days.

After ten minutes inside the apartment I was ushering him back to the office to fill out an application, smiling from ear to ear. It was a process to get a vampire approved but if they were, you were looking at good renewal bonuses for a good few years. After the necessary paper work was filled out I bid the vampire Davis goodbye and began locking up the office for the night. It hand gone from an uneventful day to a great night.

**I know it was a boring first chapter but I have to get the story going before all the fun parts come into play. Please don't lose hope yet. Be gentle, this is my first fanfiction.**


	2. Chapter 2

Three days had passed since my vampire encounter and now I was in my bathroom putting on make-up to go out and celebrate. Jaemi, my best friend and I were going out of town, well out of state, to a vampire bar in Shreveport she'd been to the a few months back. She insisted that since I was celebrating a vampire lease I should go to the appropriate place. I admit, I didn't like the idea but I hadn't gotten out of town in a while and it seemed like a pleasant adventure for me. Dark brown eyes stared back at me in my reflection as I applied liquid eye liner over my shadow, blinking a few times before applying my mascara.

In the living room I could hear a knock at the door and pulled my face away from the mirror. "Hold on a minute." I yelled over my shoulder and trudged out of the bathroom to answer the door. As I opened it Jaemi's smiling face greeted me, and I moved to the side to let her in. "Hey, you're here early."

"Of course, I'm way too excited." She replied back as she walked in and made her way over to my sectional black couch, plopping down next to Jean, who looked up at her lazily from where she lie. I gave her a hard look and raised a plucked eye brow. "Oh don't give me that look."

"You look like trouble; I have all the reason to be concerned." I snorted, taking in her outfit for the evening. A black, silk corset covered her torso, more or less, and she wore tight hip hugging jeans; she wasn't exactly thin, she had voluptuous curves that she accented with all her clothing choices. Her dyed red hair was flowing over her shoulders in loose curls and her make-up was dark and seductive, plump lips painted a deep crimson. When the two of us were together we looked deeply contrasted. Her pale skin made mine seemed to pop out even more than normal. Her thicker frame made me feel way to thin even though I was around a C cup and had acceptable sized thighs. She just one up-ed me in the body department. Yet in all honesty, I loved the way we looked different. I'd never really run with a similar pack all my life. Growing up I was the one dark skinned person in a group of light skinned friends.

"You know I'll protect you. You're my little sister, if I'm around you have nothing to worry about."

"That may be so but vampires aren't humans, you can't protect me from someone who could easily lift a car. Just saying." My voice trailed behind me as I walked back into the bathroom to comb my hair. My hair fell past my shoulders about five inches in black straight lines, naturally parted more to the left of the center of my head and my fringe was always combed out of my face. I'd had the same hair style for over a decade but my hair was too high maintenance to change it or care.

"Joce, you were born to go here. I think you'll like it, maybe. It might be a little too gothic for you but you used to love vampires. You researched them since you were only six years old. You were the first vampire I ever knew." She joked. I blushed in reply, I keep that side of me locked up. The wild side. Yeah, I know it sounds a little cliché and stupid, but to be fair it was a valid title.

Here's a little history lesson. Since I was four years old I was haunted by vivid night terrors, something unnamed and dangerous trying to kill me or steal me away, I would scream and pray over and over to wake up while this thing mocked me and stole the breath from my lungs. After a struggle I woke up paranoid and gasping, turning on the lights and aching from head to toe. Sometimes when I looked into the mirror I felt like that monster was looking back at me. Sometimes I felt like it was inside me while I was still awake. A few nights over my teenage and adult years I felt like a predator on the prowl, going out and watching everyone around me with hungry eyes, until I met my husband.

Along the same page, around age six I cut myself accidently at school and instinctively placed my finger in my mouth and sucked the blood away. That started something strange and ungodly all in itself. I would crave that warm metallic fluid, making small cuts to sate my hunger. As I grew older and told a few people about my little cork they'd offer themselves to me, I mostly refused, sometimes indulging myself and taking a sip or two. No more though, I wasn't a monster. I always felt empowered when I drank, like something inside me was sated. I can't really explain why I get these bloodlust spells but I do. For the most part I can't even look at someone who's bleeding; I always yell at them to go bandage themselves up. When my mother found out a good few years back she screamed I was evil and sent me away to a mental institution. That's how I spent my junior year summer break. After that point I hid that side of me. If I let myself go too much I'd get into a mood where I just wanted to hurt people and do horrible things. Like the person in my dreams. I hated it.

"Don't say that Jaemi. It's not funny." I snapped and bit harshly at my bottom lip. "I'm not like that anymore." I added with a frown on my lips. I didn't like that other side of me and I'll keep it hidden as long as I can.

"Come on, it's going to take at least three hours to get there."

"I'm going, I'm going." I called to her as I grabbed my tube of clear lip gloss and applied it, turning off the light as I exited and putting on my shoes. Fifteen minutes later and we were on I-20 going 80 mph, loud music blaring out of our open windows. The whole ride to Shreveport she told me about the last time she was there, some guy touched the owner and got kicked across the room.

"It was completely surreal, I mean, I knew vampires were strong but right before your eyes seeing that strength, it's almost ridiculous. Seriously." She exhaled a cloud of cigarette smoke from her lips and I raised a brow at her. She laughed at this, passing a family of four on the highway so she could go faster. "I'm no fang banger myself, but I wish I could touch him too." She added in after a moment of pause and I thinned my eyes at her, shaking my head.

"Let me guess, long black hair Fabio looking mother fucker wearing a trench coat and vest." I said closed-mindedly. Jaemi gave me shake of her hand. "I really don't get it, why do vampires have to dress like fourteen year old gothic teenagers, you'd figure that they'd be too wise and actually sophisticated to fall that low."

"What makes you say that?"

"Look at you Jaemi Baby; you look like you're trying to fuck Dracula."

"Okay, true, but that's just the atmosphere there. But you, you look like a lesbian." She muttered, whole-heartedly yet coldly. She hated when I got onto her about her fashion sense. "But a sexy lesbian." She interjected the last part in so the conversation wouldn't get bitter. I snickered at her.

Perhaps I did look lesbian, sexy or not. I work black slacks, the kind that clung to your curves and lifted your buttocks perfectly with the right pair of heels, which I had on. Three inch oxford heels, black on black except for the off white thin lines on the design and white laces. These accompanied a custom tailored white button up blouse and a tight fitting black vest that lifted my bosom just as well as the pants did my ass. I fancied business clothes. They always looked good when worn in the correct assortment. Most didn't complain, and almost every gay man I'd ever met envied my fashion sense. I didn't know if that was a good thing or not but I was willing to bet it was. Everyone loves the way right minded gay men dressed. At least I look my age, twenty-seven years young. Jaemi on the other hand was trying not to look like she was turning thirty next year. Poor girl, accepting aging can be a beautiful thing if you know how. I didn't know how vampires could look themselves in the mirror and see no changes for centuries, I'd get bored.

It was ten-thirty when we got to the club, red lights showed the name of the place as we maneuvered the parking lot. Fangtasia it read, I laughed to myself. Really, that was the name; tonight was going to be really long. After she parked I grabbed my purse and got out my I.D. and the money I had gotten out of the ATM when we stopped at a gas station, Jaemi doing exactly as I was. When we finished we exited the car and threw the purses in the trunk, Jaemi clicking the lock button on her key chain and pushing it into her back pocket. The line was a real sight, Goth freaks wearing outfits I'd only seen on television chattering to themselves, among them a few normal people were mixed in, cameras in their hands and wide smiles on their faces. That was just too sad to comprehend. There were safer ways to get an adrenaline rush than messing around with vampires.

Thirty minutes of standing in the pitiful line and we were faced with a pale blonde in a black filmy dress, her blue eyes fixated on us with boredom. Over my skin that weird tinge returned and I felt gooseflesh flood my arms. Silently we handed her our driver's licenses and she gazed at them briefly before handing them back and letting us past the red velvet rope. "Have fun, humans." Her voice was as bored as her facial features. I guess she didn't like her night job. I couldn't blame her.

Once we were inside my head began to swim. Black, red and grey possessed my vision and I shook my head to shake the feeling of sharp visual contrasts. Red walls and black surfaces with grey floors. Red and black was my favorite color combination, true, but this was just too much. It made me feel a little sick. The walls were lined with pictures of Hollywood's idea of vampires and I recognized most of them. A few eyes fluttered to us as we walked to the bar, my body tensing at the overwhelming amount of undead bodies around me, my weird sixth sense picking them all up. I wouldn't be able to stay long if it continued.

As we finally reached the bar I pulled a ten out of my pocket and placed it on the black painted counter. A minute past before the bartender, an Asian vampire with many strange tattoos came to get our order. He was quite a specimen, wearing only a vest to show them off, though I wasn't interested in the tattoos, I fancied looking at his handsome face. "A rum and coke, well rum is good enough." I ordered, pushing the ten towards him and insisting he keep the change once he returned with my drink. Jaemi ordered her usual, a Bud and then paid and tipped him nicely, both of us doing a one-eighty and leaning our backs against the bar top while we looked around for a table.

We found one a little farther back into the club, a little circular table with two chairs. Perfect. No one could insist on joining us without pulling up a chair and that appeared too desperate to put the effort into. As we sat down and placed our drinks down a shiver ran up my spine. It's that feeling you get when someone's eyes are on you. I brushed off the feeling and sipped my concoction with a worn smile, my lips leaving a dark red stain on my straw. The music was good, to say the most. Some radio station with a disc jockey named Connie the Corpse. For the most part they played death metal, sometimes a less hectic song would come on, one you could actually nod your head to without feeling like you're forcing a spasm.

"You know, they really played out the vampire thing to the fullest. Who thought they'd be so much like the stereotypes." I said into Jaemi's ear as she swayed to the music. She giggled a little while she watched a male vampire dancing up on a platform. My eyes traced to what she was looking at and I watched a little myself, intrigued. It was weird how fast they would move and then slow down for a brief moment. I felt like I was high on something watching him.

"Look, it's him." I heard Jaemi whisper through the music; in her voice I could tell there was adoration. It made me cringe. I gave a quick glance and saw what she was talking about; it was a tall man sitting on a throne. Maybe not the entire working of a throne, but it was damn sure close enough to be called one. I shook my head, keeping my eyes on the figure sitting silently there. He couldn't be serious; no matter how handsome or powerful you are a throne is overkill. He was blond, blue-eyed and pale. And that's just saying it briefly. To do him justice his hair was luscious and long, I couldn't tell how long from first glance but longer than I usually saw on a man, and the blonde color was beautiful, seeing as it was a natural color instead of the box color most people had these days. His mystifying blue hues looked out into the club just as bored as the bouncer looked at us when we got to the front door, even though I wasn't close to him I could see how intense they were. He had very prominent features, the kind you want to touch and stroke softly with your fingertips. And he looked tall. At least six feet two inches, perhaps six feet four. He wore black slacks, a silky looking blue button up and a black blazer. Yummy indeed.

"Oh."

The single word was all I could muster. I could see how someone would try to touch him, how could you tell if he was real otherwise. I blinked and cleared my throat, the breathtaking vampire turning for a moment and looking in our direction. I felt my cheeks flush and quickly looked away, in my head lusty thoughts fluttered about and my face grew hotter. I was going to need another drink.

An hour had past and I was on drink number four. Jaemi on the other hand was already on her sixth beer, but to be fair, she could definitely handle her liquor. I wasn't drunk yet, but I felt a little too good for my own well being. I was at the point where I just wanted to dance. I grabbed Jaemi's arm and pulled her onto an opening on what I figured was the dance floor. Around me eyes watched as I dragged her along and then gave her a forceful pull into me, her body warm against mine.

"You're a dancing drunk." Jaemi laughed, and I gave her a sinful grin. I do love to dance…when I'm drunk. At least I'm not the drunk who thinks they can dance when they can't. I sure as hell knew how to match body to music. Around the room multiple pairs of eyes found us and watched as we entwined ourselves. Every time she would push I would pull, and likewise for her. My hips swayed side to side, her hands trailing down my sides and back up again, making my mouth open in a silent moan as my fingers wove themselves into my hair. The best way to describe my dance style was tribal fusion belly dancing without as much arm movements.

Twenty minutes later I was still going, if I could move as fast as the vampires could, I was sure I'd dance circles around them. I was so lost in my own fun that I came to suddenly when I felt Jaemi lift herself off my body. My eyes opened and I stopped midway through a forward belly roll. Tall, blonde and dead was suddenly in front of me and I withheld a gasp. "Might I interject?" He inquired, his voice didn't have much of an accent but it was there, if only I could tell where it was from. I was far too buzzed now to figure it out. I glanced around the room for a moment and saw every human woman around me staring holes through me, as if they could kill me with evil eyes. The blonde vampire from the door was standing by the supposed throne, looking at me with a different longing, not envy but more like hunger, when did she get over there? Uh oh. I snapped back to reality, if it could be called that.

"Only if you don't bite." I answered, I didn't like how sexy my voice sounded. It would get me into trouble if I wasn't careful. Jaemi was watching me intently, not jealous like the others, more protective than anything. God bless her. The music slowed to something I could really get into and after that point I let the alcohol lead my movements. After a moment of finding the rhythm I was in the zone, my back against his chest as I slid down, movements serpentine and smooth. My hips made figure eights as I dipped one knee after the other, every time there was a sudden change in beat or a stop I would pause sharply before continuing. It didn't take him long to synch himself with me and soon the general populous of the bar, vampires included seemed to fade into the background. He wasn't very active in the dancing, not like I was. It was like giving a lap dance to someone while you both were standing up and there wasn't a rule against touching.

My mind sort of drifted into a weird haze as I danced, it felt like there was pressure on it, as if someone was grabbing my brain and squeezing very lightly. I excused it as part of the drinking and in my dance I looked over my shoulder at my partner, his powerful eyes looking down at me, but not on my face, more on my shoulder and slowly trailing up to my neck. If I didn't sober up I was going to put myself in a bad position.

As we continued I could feel his strong hands touch my own and the effect was startling. If a vampire's presence gave me gooseflesh his touch made my skin feel afire. I let out a gasp and opened my eyes; anyone looking would assume he grabbed me in an inappropriate place. I shook it off, not letting it stop me from enjoying myself. I began to roll my body forward, pushing out my upper chest muscles while pushing my shoulders back into his chest and drove the movement down from my stomach to my hips before bringing it back up. I felt a bit of sweat drip down my back, I needed another drink to keep myself from jumping this man right on the dance floor. Suddenly he grabbed my arms and swung me around to face him and I looked up into his icy stare. With the heels I was around five feet eleven inches, being as normally I'm five eight, so he was about half a foot taller than me at that point.. My breathing was deep and far in between, while his was non-existent. I was sweating pools and he was cool as ice. I looked lustful, he looked hungry. I wasn't liking the contrasts. The song ended and he gave me a smile, his fangs out and in the open. I refrained from touching them, though I yearned to.

"Thanks for the dance." I whispered, trying not to sound nervous.

"Please Ms. DeLon, it was my pleasure."

"How do you know my name?"

"My associate Pam remembers you from checking your I.D. at the door." He answered coolly and I swallowed. I didn't like these people knowing my name. "Come sit with me." It really didn't sound like an invitation, but more like an order. I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out. I locked glances with him for a minute, my breath stalling. What was going on, I didn't like this. "I insist you come sit with me." He repeated and I nodded my head.

"I'd love to."

Wait, what? No, I was not some fang banging whore. What exactly was he trying? I felt like I had two streams of consciousness, one was rational; the other was compelled by everything he said. If he said jump, I'd say how high, while in my head I'd say fuck off. I knew this feeling, I'd felt it every time I had a night terror. I was screaming in my head but I couldn't ever get myself to actually do it so I could wake myself up. At least not immediately. I began walking with him back to his "throne" and struggling against my daze. I was screaming no over and over again in my head it just wasn't coming out.

Suddenly I stopped rigid and a sharp "No." finally made its way out of my lips. I started panting and looked at the gorgeous stranger. All of a sudden he scared the shit out of me, what happened to the sensuously dancing gentleman? I'd never felt so fearful in my life. Did he really just glamour me?

"What?" His voice gave me the chills and I stepped away from him. I searched around for Jaemi but she was talking to some vampire at our table, her hands playing with the cold bottle of Budweiser in front of her.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go."

"No you don't."


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry about the wait. I've been so wrapped up in the Season 3 True Blood premiere since my last update. But here you go. Enjoy and review. **

The words reached my ears about the time his hand reached out and forcefully grabbed my arm. "Ah, fuck, that hurts." I bit out, I felt like my jaw had been wired shut from the pain. "Let me go." His touch was like pure energy forcing itself into my pours. This couldn't be right. No fang banger could get past this for a lay.

"Ms. DeLon, you do not pass orders to me. A normal human would be jumping at the invitation to sit with me. And yet you stand there and say no." His voice would be deep and sexy if he wasn't so close to breaking my arm. "You are different. I don't know how…yet. But you are. I glamoured you and yet you were able to break free." His voice fell like a heavy rainfall onto my ears as I was led up to the throne area, Pam was gone by now, and after a very quick scan around as I was being led I noticed she was talking to Jaemi, I bet she was glamouring her. I had really gotten us into trouble. His hands yanked me down into a chair right next to his own much bigger one and I reluctantly sat. He followed the action, keeping this grip firm.

"Look, I'm not here to throw myself at your feet, I'm just here to celebrate something. I don't want to cause any trouble Mr.?" I paused to allow him to introduce himself.

"Eric Northman and It's a little too late for that."

"Look Mr. Northman, all I did was resist you. I'm more than sure I'm not the only person in the world who can't be glamoured. What's the big deal?" I spat the words out, turning away from him. He let out a long deep breath, a sigh. I turned back to look at him, seeing as I wasn't going to leave until they allowed me to, I wasn't stupid, I might as well calm down and let things take their course. Across the room Pam was flirting with Jaemi and I cocked my head to the side confused. That vampire didn't look like she ran that way. I guess you never can tell. After a couple hundred years I might get bored with men and lean towards women too.

I was getting too frustrated at my situation, from my core I could feel this growing pressure seeping into the rest of my body till it reached my finger tips and then it quickly exited my body. His grip loosened and he gave me a strange looking, readjusting his hold on me. "Ms. DeLon, please come with me." He forcefully invited, I could have said no, but he wouldn't have allowed that anyways.

"Fine, but leave Jaemi out of this." I said as my eyes shot over to her. Pam raised her gaze to Eric and he gave her a nod and then inclined his head to the back of the bar, she nodded back to him and turned back to Jaemi. Some words were exchanged that I couldn't hear and then Jaemi flashed me a smile, accompanied by a wink. She got up and waved goodbye to me, I could feel my pulse quickening.

"I'll grab a hotel down the road; call me tomorrow when you're awake. Have fun." She yelled over the music and I just about wanted to strangle her at that point. Really? They glamoured her into thinking I was going to sleep with him, perhaps she didn't even have to be glamoured, Eric was attractive enough make it believable. I hated this more than anything. Eric's hands tightened and I winced and gave her a fast nod; she accepted it and left out of the front door. How the hell was I going to get myself out of this without my usual protector?

Eric stood up and I sloppily followed after him, almost tripping over my own feet. I wasn't as graceful as they were obviously, especially after being yanked up while wearing heels. "Where are you taking me?" He didn't give me an answer, he just escorted me to a door labeled "employees only", pushing it open easily to reveal a small corridor. Before long we were in an office, accompanied by a black leather sofa, some chairs, a desk, and some selves with many objects on them. At least it wasn't an orgy of red and black colors anymore. Once the door closed behind us I was pushed against the nearest wall, his lips pulled back in a snarl, fangs bared. I yelped.

"Can I help you?" I piped out, it was very sarcastic yet it sounded as if it came out of the mouth of a five year old. Eric pulled his face closer to mine and I tried to push myself harder against the wall, anything to get farther away from him.

Again I felt a deep pressure on my mind, this time a lot more powerful than before. I didn't know what to do so I closed my eyes as tight as possible and pulled my hands into fists. "Joceline, look at me." His voice floated into my head and I couldn't help but to open my eyes. It was hard enough to fight against being glamoured, it was even harder to fight against the fact I wanted to take those sweet lips of his and give him a little love bite. If human blood tasted sweet to me I couldn't even imagine what his tasted like. Oh no, this was a horrible time for my other side to start surfacing.

"What do you want from me Mr. Northman?" I whispered softly, biting my bottom lip a little after the words left my lips. Eric grabbed my chin and held it so I couldn't look away from his face, not that I was going to anyways. With my heart racing as fast as it was my body was quite heated and the way his cool fingers felt on my skin was like a glass of lemonade on a hot summer day.

"How is it you are fighting against my glamouring you?"

"I don't know." I responded a little too quickly for him to take the answer seriously. He raised a brow at me and inched his face a little closer to mine, if he was human I'd be able to feel his breath on my skin. "I have night terrors, I have to force myself to wake up and that's what I did with you." I answered truthfully, yet reluctantly. He released my chin and his hands fell down to his sides. Relieved I took a deep breath. "I'm sorry if I offended you, I just like being in control of my own actions." I added, as if that would justify what I had done, not that I thought I had to justify it.

"If you were in control of your actions would you allow me to taste you?" He asked as he took a step back. I swallowed hard and tore my gaze away from him, looking at some point on the far wall. Instinctively I wrapped my hand around the left side of my neck in a protective manner. He gave me an impatient look that caused me to swallow hard.

"I…"

Would love to have your lips sucking on my skin.

"… don't like being the prey; I'm used to being the predator." Oh hell, that wasn't much better than what I was saying in my mind. He gained an interested look, his forehead forming lines as he lifted his brow slightly. I clenched my jaw and looked at him innocently; I had to distract him from thinking about what I had said. "You can have a taste, but just a taste." I finally gave in, afterwards unbuttoning my blouse top and slowing my breathing as I concentrated. I had long nails so I figured I might as well scratch the skin open since it would be easier to explain that than two puncture wounds.

"What are you doing?" His stern voice echoed to me, though I barely gave it any mind, I was wrapped up in my own little world. As I steadied my longest nail just over my left breast his hands caught my own in movements too fast for my human eyes to follow. I gasped and looked up at Eric frightened. "Will you not let me bite you?"

"I have a job. I can't show apartments and have people thinking a sleep with vampires when I'm off the clock. Not that it's such a horrible thing, but I have to maintain a professional appearance. I have bills to pay and you…"

And that was all she wrote on that conversation. The collar of my shirt was shoved down past my elbow and his lips rested a tad below my left clavicle. One of his hands held me upright from the small of my back, pulling me into him slightly so that my shoulders leaned back and he had better access to his intended target. The other one entangled into my hair at the back of my head, helping to make it more comfortable in the awkward way my body was posed. For a moment I almost had the notion he was smelling me, but I couldn't be sure. Though I was about eighty percent sure he was. I suppose he was taking in my scent, anticipating the way I would taste to him. I knew for a fact I tasted delightful, but that was only my own opinion.

"Do it, take it." He might have been savoring the seconds before the bite but I was far too worked up to push it back any longer. Just as his fangs broke the skin I cried out, how happy I was he owned a club and not a library, no one could have heard me. The feeling of blood leaving my body could only be described as numbingly euphoric, my muscles started relaxing and I gave in to him fully. There was pain present, I'm not going to lie, but the way it mixed in with the pleasure only amplified what I was feeling. I gave forth a moan and he responded by pressing his hips into mine, making my heartbeat just about double. By the time I snapped out of it I was feeling light headed.

"Eric, that's…enough." I stumbled with the words while trying to separate my body from his. He almost growled when I did this and I began wiggling in his grip, bringing my hands up to push against his hard chest. It was like trying to move a brick wall. Once more the pressure built in my core, starting in the center of my chest and I concentrated on channeling it out into my whole being, it strained me considerably but I had to stay focused. Finally as I felt that electric pulse ready to combust within me I forced out the energy and gave him a rough shove away from me. He barely budged but released me and shot his gaze to mine. "I said that's enough." I bit out angrily, intimidated by the aggression and hunger present in his eyes.

_Don't look at the blood, don't look at the blood_. I thought frantically, deep and quick breaths escaping me. I thought I was going to hyperventilate at this point. Just as I was trying to compose myself I was suddenly on him, sucking away the blood splashed on his bottom lip. I couldn't control it any longer, I wanted to taste the blood and more importantly I wanted to taste him. I had been suppressing my own monstrous desires for too long to simply walk away from the situation. He accepted the sudden actions and responded in kind, grabbing me and turning it into a violently passionate kiss. All my vigor made me feel hectic and hurried, as if I would die if I grew gentle, my mind only centered on my more carnal emotions of lust and wild abandon. Quickly he seized my hips and almost full out swung me towards the back of the office, I back stepped till I felt the back of my thighs collide with his desk, I wasn't quite sure how I didn't trip in my frenzy of movements but I reached my destination safely.

With the blink of an eye he was already in front of me, hastily I dragged my fingers over the blood coating my skin and slid it up to my open lips, licking a little away and then raising it to his lips. His mouth surrounded my fingers and I shuddered, the feeling of his tongue tracing my skin enough to send me over the edge. As I was about to discard my vest and shirt there came a knock on the door and I beamed angrily at it.

"Yes?" Eric's voice was surprising even though irritated, mine would have been shaken. He dropped his arms so that they trapped me against the desk, each hand by the sides of my hips. He inclined his head so he could view whoever walked in. To my benefit they stayed on the other side of the door.

"Eric, its Pam."

"I am in the middle of something Pam."

"Fine." She breathed out, I had the feeling she was rolling her eyes though I couldn't see it. Through the door I heard her heels clicking against the floor as she exited the area and I released my breath. That was far too close for comfort. Eric turned his head back to me and I gave him a weak smile. I suddenly felt exhausted and back in my right mind.

"I've really got to be going, I shouldn't have done this." I stumbled over the sentence as my fingers pulled my shirt back up my shoulders. While I buttoned myself back up and fixed my vest Eric watched my carefully, focusing on my face and letting a devious looking smile possess his features. I shot my eyes down to the floor, catching evidence of his excitement as my eyes trailed downward.

"What are you? You look refreshing…different." He inquired, stressing the last word; he seemed to always emphasize certain terms when he spoke, I let out a small laugh, thinking over a good answer. I swear everyone I met wondered the same thing about me. My mind was bombarded with so many thoughts, ideas and fantasies I could barely think straight.

"I'm too many things."


	4. Chapter 4

**Okayyy, here we go. Chapter 4. Sorry about the wait, about to start a new job so I'm constantly running around. But to award you for being patient, this chapter is nice and long. It also contains a nice glass of lemonade. Enjoy and review.**

"Jaemi, where the hell are you? Come get me." My voice was strained as it made its way into my cell phone receiver. I was outside of Fangtasia now, leaning against the side wall with my free hand against my chest, hiding the small blood spots that were seeping through my shirt. I was happy about the experience I had with Eric but I was furious at myself for ruining an eighty dollar blouse; who knew when I'd get it replaced. In my mind scenes from earlier in the night flashed briefly through my head while I waited for my ride. First the dancing, then the sensuous office visit, followed by Pam eyeing me playfully as I walked out the bar. To be fair every vampire in the place was looking at me after I left Eric's office, Pam just seemed to be having more fun with it since she had a better idea of what had happened.

"I'm on my way, stay where you are." Jaemi's voice sounded tired and weary, which meant I woke her up. Always glad to know she was so sure of my safety she could fall asleep. Luckily it was Friday night and I could sleep in the next day before we had to head back to Texas. I could only hope once she came and got me she would fall back asleep as soon as we got to the hotel.

Ten minutes past before I saw her silver SUV pull into the parking lot. I was never so relieved to see a car in my life. I knew adequate time had passed since my husband died but I was still feeling guilty after what I did with Eric. I hadn't really paid attention to the opposite sex since Mason passed away, I started going on dates about six months ago but they were always ill-fated. I just couldn't imagine relationships with the men I saw. I always compared them to someone who would never come back. Perhaps it was pathetic, but I didn't really care what others thought about it.

As I hopped into the car Jaemi looked me over before she drove away, suddenly I was angry with myself for not paying attention to the stain while I put on my seat belt. "Are we going to talk about what happened?" She asked softly, her eyes never leaving the windshield, but her voice held all the right emotions to make the question weigh heavy. She was my best friend for a reason; she empathized with me when she could and it was appropriate, she nagged and gave me advice when she saw it necessary. I was having a hard time deciphering which one she was leaning toward at the moment.

"I don't know. He didn't force me to do anything. I agreed to it willingly." I wasn't attempting to sound so unsure of myself but it was coming out the way with every word I said. She gave me a side glance before returning her gaze back to the road. I sighed when I noticed it and leaned farther back into my seat while I tried to find a better way of presenting my case. I didn't want her breathing down my neck about this for the next two weeks. "I wanted him, for once I didn't think about Mason while I was around him." I paused and rubbed my forehead a little. "But I thought about him afterwards. I stopped thinking about it all the time, but whenever I go on a date or when I did what I did tonight I thought about it after the fact."

"And what exactly did you do tonight?"

"He bit me."

"Is that all?"

"We kissed for a while afterwards, but were interrupted. I kind of couldn't help it, it just happened. Once I saw the blood, I just lost control of myself." There was a long uncomfortable silence after I bestowed the knowledge on her and I let it last for as long as possible, which was only about a minute. "I don't regret what I did Jaemi." I didn't know why I made it a point to add that in but once Jaemi gave a response I felt I was right in having said it.

"You may not regret it right now, but what happens when you start getting those cravings again and you're going out on the weekends like its hunting season." She snapped and once she realized how rude it was her face softened and she bent her head back till it was on the head rest. I caught myself glaring at her so I ripped my eyes away to look out the window. "I'm sorry Joce."

"I'm tired, let's just go to bed. We'll talk in the morning or whenever I wake up."

The next day it was two in the afternoon by the time I could pry myself out of a deep sleep, but once I was up I felt a lot better than I had when I left Fangtasia the night before. I needed to get some orange juice and perhaps some vitamin B-12 at the nearest available store. As my senses returned to their normal functioning I could hear the water running in the bathroom, which would mean that Jaemi was taking a shower. I hoped this hotel was nice enough to have some hot water left so I could take one after her. I felt nasty and dirty in more ways than one.

When the bathroom door opened Jaemi stepped out with a towel wrapped around her, another wrapped around the top of her head. Once I apprehended the shower I scouted for a complimentary shower cap, finding one next to the in-room hand wash. Satisfied I stripped out of my clothes and started the water. Imagining the warm waterfall on my back made me smile with contentment. Taking a shower was a way to get clean and to wash away your filth and sin all in one sitting. I had to scrub the feeling of being a fang banger off my chest. Though I hadn't slept with him I still felt just as bad as I would have had it progressed any farther. After stripping my clothes off I gave myself a gander in the mirror, tracing the bite marks softly with my fingers. They still ached a little. Some cocoa butter once a day for a while would make it barely noticeable after a few months.

Buck naked and adorned in my blue shower cap I stepped into the tub, my shoulders slinking down as soon as the warmth hit my back. That was exactly what the doctor ordered. While I bathed I found myself humming a soft tune, my eyes closed and my face sporting a childlike smile. After twenty minutes of my hydro therapy I shut off the water and grabbed a towel to dry myself. Next on my agenda was trying to get that blood out of my shirt so I didn't get any weird looks in public.

Wearing all the clothes from the night before minus the blouse I ran the sink till it was nice and scolding then tore a bar of soap out of its wrapper. I could at least get it looking like pink spots with enough work, and after some time of slaving over it my goal was accomplished. Maybe with some bleach and a good wash I'd get it wearable when I did the laundry. While I was tending to my shirt Jaemi was watching some random program on the television, from time to time I heard someone talking on it but I didn't care enough to pay any more attention past that. Somewhere in the depth of my conscious I found myself wanting to see Eric again that night but it was a bad idea waiting to happen. I couldn't succumb to my more primitive desires, no matter how sated I was sure he'd make me feel. From what I saw before I left Eric probably would have me struggling to walk for a while afterwards. Not that I think that's such a bad thing, weak knees after sex was definitely worth it every time in my book. All that meant was you were lucky enough to have multiple…oh dear. My mind was going to a dark place while I had it in auto-pilot.

Despite how hard I tried to focus on unrelated topics I kept returning to the lovely Mr. Northman and the way those blue eyes looked at me greedily, wanting to take my body and ravish it. What I would do to have that man, or I suppose vampire, alone with me in a dark room. Hell, I wanted him in a lit room; being able to take in his muscles and see his face while we dirtied the sheets was beyond a doubt enough to keep me day dreaming a little too long. Jaemi cleared her throat and I came down from my cloud in the sky. It wasn't hard to believe my absent-minded daze was clearly evident.

"What are you imagining in that fucked up little head of yours?"

"Doing things that would make the water boil at a baptism." I quipped, running my hands through my unruly hair. One of the bad things about being mixed with so many ethnicities was how unmanageable my hair was. When I washed it I had to set an extra two hours aside to straighten and style it. Most people always complimented me on my pampered locks or said they were jealous of how pretty and thick they were but I would never bestow it on anyone who didn't have the money to take care of it. I actually had to set aside money in the budget to make sure I relaxed it and bought the best quality products to keep my hair in line.

"Does your little vampire lover have a name?"

"It's Eric Northman, and I'd hardly call him a lover; we just had a little fun is all." I amended her assumption with a toss of my hand, collecting my shoes and putting them on my feet. Jaemi took notice of my actions and realized I wanted to go home and did the same, gathering up her belongings and stowing them away in her purse. As we exited the room I rummaged through my purse to make sure I had all my necessities so we could get on the road and cursed under my breath once I realized that my license was missing. "Jaemi…" My voice wavered as I knelt down to focus on my search. "I can't find my license."

"Did you lose it last night?"

"I guess so, fuck." I didn't want to have to wait six weeks to get another one, especially since I favored going to the bar about once a week for a few alcoholic relieves. "You got any plans today?" I pulled myself back up to a standing position and waited for an answer, hopefully a good one.

"I don't have any plans till Sunday night; my show is on at eight." She sighed and I exhaled an air of relief. Looks like I was going to being paying Eric Northman a visit tonight. He was going to think I was turning into his vampire groupie but that was most definitely the wrong interpretation. The driver's license office was far too annoying to deal with and we hadn't left town yet so it was the right plan of action to just wait till night fall and retrieve my lost item.

For the next few hours Jaemi and I had a Shreveport adventure, as we like to call it. Searching out any thrift stores and little boutiques we could find. The small stores are where you can find the best ensembles. By the time the sun starting sinking into the horizon I had accumulated a new pair of cream slacks, an adorable embroidered garter belt with the hose included, and a racy little black dress. The best part of it was the fact that I spend less than seventy five dollars for all the stuff I bought. Jaemi was a lot harder when it came to shopping; she had a very large bust so she walked away with only a new skirt and some cute cami tops. Giggling about a story we were discussing the two of us grabbed our new clothes and ducked into the restrooms of the Applebee's we had finished eating dinner at to change. Almost simultaneously we walked out of our stalls in our new get-ups. She looked a lot more respectable than I did; I was the perfect visage of a whore. One with a little class at least, but none the less still a whore. At least I had on pantie hose. But I didn't care what other thought about me, I was always separate from the social norm, sometimes unintentionally.

After fixing our make-up I was ready for my second night at Fangtasia, looking like I could just about work there. All their waitresses looked similar to my presentation; short skirts, high heels, cleavage popping out of the tops, unbelievably short dresses, it was definitely not the kind of wardrobe you'd wear to church. I felt like I was being a tease wearing the outfit but damn did I look amazing. Any woman knows dressing up is more for yourself than for the people you see. It's a confidence booster that makes you hold your head higher and keep your back straighter. There was a power behind beauty, for both genders, and any race. When we walked out of the restrooms everyone gave us strange looks, taking in the transformations and on my end the new slutty look. I rolled my eyes while we walked out the front door.

Following a trip to the gas station to get more cash and some Red Bulls we drove off to the vampire bar. It was about an hour after Fangtasia was open when we finally arrived. The line was a little sparser this time; perhaps all the regulars and tourists had a late start. We only had to wait ten minutes in the line before Pam's bored face greeted us. When she saw me a smile spread across her forever youthful face. "Well hello." Her voice was as untrusting as her facial expression. I shook off my sixth sense feeling as soon as my skin starting bumping up, I guess there was just no getting over it. Her hands moved to the door, telling us we were given way to enter and I gave her a smirk as we walked in.

This time the interior decorating didn't through me off, but I still hated the weird tinge I got from the vampires there. The way I figured, there were probably ten of them present. Since it was in fact the weekend I was sure more would trickle in once the night progressed. Walking to the bar we gave the tender a smile and I leaned over the bar while I pulled a twenty dollar bill out of the side of my breast. The vampire smiled at this, and I simply shook my head back at him. "What can I get you ladies?"

"I'll take a shot of vodka and then a zombie." I ordered, handing over the money. "And she'll have a shot of vodka as well and a Budweiser." I added, motioning to Jaemi who was standing idly beside me. I saw her slide her own money towards him and then after a little wait we were awarded our drinks. As we both held the shot high I thought of a toast. My late husband would never take a shot without something to toast to and I kept the tradition alive after he passed. "Here's to a long life and a merry one, a quick death and an easy one, a handsome man and an honest one, a cold drink and another one." It wasn't his favorite toast exactly, but it was modified to fit my situation. We threw back the vodka and both our faces gained what we always called 'shot face'. Taking a quick few breathes to let out that strong alcohol feeling I grabbed up my glass and we wandered away from the immediate bar area.

We established our base in one of the booths, sitting opposite each other. I was facing the rear of the club so I could see Eric while Jaemi faced the front. I couldn't find him yet, maybe he came in at a later time. So until then we just drank a few drinks and had a fun time switching between a little bit of dancing and then sitting down whenever we got a new beverage. It was about midnight before I saw Eric take a seat in the middle of what could be considered a bulk of tables, as opposed to the throne I had seen him at the night before. I guess he got tired of looking so gaudy from time to time.

"He's here, I'll be right back."

"Take your time; I think I'm going to go dance with that guy who's been eyeing me for the last thirty minutes." Jaemi insisted and I followed her eyes to exactly what man she was talking about. I found him and immediately realized he wasn't human, he was vampire. It was unfair how beautiful the undead were, humans just never stood a chance anymore. I had no idea if they were turned because of their beauty and brilliance or if they gained that certain intrigue after they changed. All vampires couldn't be gorgeous, I'm sure some were simply attractive. Nan Flannigan, the AVL spokesperson was a good example. She was very pretty but not to an unbelievable extent. Shaking the thoughts off I stood up and smoothed out the dress. Just as I was making my way over to Eric a man dressed in a black outfit complete with a leather trench coat intercept my path. I groaned lightly and gave him a disinterested look.

"Hey sexy.."

Before he could even continue his pathetic pass at me I shoved him to the side and he stumbled a few feet to my right. I had no patience for lousy pick up attempts, especially from a guy who looked like he stepped out of the Matrix. Free of interruptions I finally made it to Eric's table and pulled out the chair opposite his. His head turned and had a look of irritation and indifference till he realized it was me who approached him.

"Joceline DeLon, what a pleasure to see you."

"Mr. Northman." I greeted, dipping my head slightly. I wasn't going to shake his hand or give him a hug or kiss obviously, but my gesture seemed casual enough. He gave me a single nod, letting me know my greeting was acceptable.

"What can I do for you this evening?" His voice gave me the chills and brought about the pleasant thoughts from my earlier episode of wishful thinking. Tonight he was dressed in slacks and a vest, and nothing more. I took it in with a grin while trying to focus. The oufit was cheesy but the way it showed off his body left no room to complain. Even though he was so pale he still had the body of a warrior, for a moment I pictured him with a shield and longsword.

"Last night I believe I left my license in your office." He smiled at this and was up out of his chair before I could take another breath. With grace he pulled my chair out and offered his hand to me, of which I took and stood up.

"Then let us go see if it's there." He offered as I began walking with him to the employee door, the whole time biting my lip to keep my mind on track. I wasn't used to being bombarded with lustful thoughts, I remembered them from years prior but lately I only thought about work, bills, groceries and other trivial things. "Are you a masochist Ms. DeLon?" I stopped dead in my tracks about a foot away from the office and felt my upper lip tremble. The rude question swayed my earlier more pleasant demeanor.

"Excuse me?"

"Your arms and legs have multiple scars, I'm just curious as to why." He clarified, pushing open the office door and motioning for me to enter. I took the invitation and walked past him, my eyes scanning the floor.

"I have a weird a fixation with blood, I wouldn't consider it masochism, though the pain is nice sometimes." His eyes lit up when he heard this, as if someone told him useful information. After a minute of careful surveying for my at large license I found it located underneath the front of his desk. I knelt down careful to pick it up, not looking forward to getting back up and facing him. I hated telling people about my weird side, especially someone I barely knew who was a vampire. "It's not a fetish, it's not only a sexual thing." I snapped, knowing that's what most thought when they heard it.

As I lifted myself up Eric was eyeing my very closely, through his slightly parted lips I could see the tip of his tongue pressed against the bottom of his canine. "Are all of your scars because of this...obsession with blood?" He pushed, though I felt it was beyond his realm of need-to-know information. I was an idiot for telling him as much as I already had, especially considering the fact that past tonight I'd probably never see him again. I had no place in this world, despite what my past was like. They were mythical creatures and I was just a human leasing consultant from Texas. I hadn't seen the countless things they have, they've had the chance to experience things I'd only read about, and perhaps even change what we considered history. To them, it was simply memories. It was almost too much to comprehend.

"Not necessarily, growing up I was rough on my body. The way I figured, every minute it was aging and decaying away so it wasn't really important to keep it in mint condition. Scars aren't as horrible as people make them out to be." He didn't have to glamour me to get information. I blamed it on the fact I didn't have anyone to open up to aside Jaemi now, so talking was nice. I doubted he really cared about my stories, but to be fair, he was the one to bring this up in the first place.

"Even with your scars you are still beautiful Joceline." His reply went straight over my head at first. Since we seemed to have started a conversation I made myself comfortable by sitting on the edge of his desk and crossing my legs. He noticed the actions and shut the office door at his back. My chosen seat made my thoughts begin to stir again but I easily pushed them away."I wouldn't think twice about taking you to bed to prove it." That one made me laugh. He sure seemed to have a way with words, and his voice was laced with intent.

"Insincere flattery isn't necessary."

"I am not flattering you, this happens to be true. I am over a thousand years old and have been with many women. You are one of the ones who stand out among them."

"You haven't been with me in that way." I quickly corrected him. Instantly he was in front of me, causing me to inhale sharply. His strong arms separated my legs and he placed himself in the space it made, his hands still holding my thighs in place. "Yet." I knew this was going to end in something I would regret later, like the night before, but I couldn't really say I cared. It had been too long since I was in the intimate company of a man. No matter how I tried I couldn't even recollect the way it felt to have a man enter me, or any of the things that happened past that point. Pressure started building in my hips and I let out a light "oh," sound.

"Yield to me Joceline."

I'd never heard someone phrase it like that before but that was probably the sexiest way it could be put. No one could resist that, especially coming from this fascinating creature. I released my inhibitions and grabbed the back of his neck, pulling his face closer. When our lips met I automatically moaned, how cool his body temperature was made body contact startling, but in a good way. The strange feeling I got off of him from my sixth sense was still there, but it became pleasure centered. It didn't scare me or hurt, it just put me on pins and needles. It was the most seductive feeling I'd ever felt. Eric hiked up my dress to reveal my lovely little garter belt and the sight of it excited him, from what I saw in his pants. I wanted to tell him to be gentle but I doubted that was possible at this point.

Next he laced his finger around the shoulder strap to my dress and dragged in down my arms, doing the same with the opposite one once he was done. My breasts were quivering now, ready to be freed from the restraints of my black lace bra. He began kissing his way down from my shoulders to my left breast, his hands at my back working on the double hooks. After barely a second my bra slipped down my chest and I was all out there for him. Wrapped up in anticipation I tossed the bra aside and pushed his head into my chest, a more eager way of showing him I was ready to advance this to the next level. His lips ventured to my left nipple and took it between his teeth, tugging softly and sucking on it all at the same time. I wanted to watch him but I found myself throwing my head back and letting out a few ragged sounding noises. After showering my chest with his attentions he moved farther south, my eyes following him intently. This all felt so new and arousing, my panties starting to moisten. I ran my fingers through his hair while I sat there, feeling like I was going to just slide right off the desk. My body was in putty mode, I doubted I could execute any real movements if necessary. After as long as he'd been on this earth, pleasuring women had become very easy for him.

My garter was removed carefully, I wasn't sure how he kept himself from ripping it off but I was sure thankful. I just bought it that same day, only getting one wear out of it would have been disappointing. Following the garter he pulled down my underwear and let it fall to the floor, his eyes taking in my now exposed "womanhood". Immediately he went to work on me, his mouth and fingers doing things I'd only dreamt about in the past. I wasn't a woman who could be pleased too easily with other men but with him I found that to be true. While his fingers moved in a fast rhythm inside me I rocked my hips in unison, right on the edge of my own release. Just before my orgasm came he stopped and starting kissing his way back up the length of my body, stopping to nip at my hip bone, and then spoiling my right breast just as he had done my left on moments earlier. I hadn't been watching his hands but once I searched them out they were unbuttoning his pants and pushing them down. He was wearing silk red boxers, which seemed fitting enough, I would have struggled not to laugh if he was wearing tightie-blackies or something. Focusing on my current situation I could see that the cloth of his boxers were being stretched quite a bit. Could I even handle him? He was generously endowed in that department.

Too swift to react he entered me and I screamed out, my body tensing all over. At first he was slow and gentle, which I was very grateful for but steadily his thrusting became harder and faster. My body jerked and strained, my hands clutching his arms so tightly I thought I might draw blood from them. We were at it for quite some time and I had climaxed enough that my body shook with pleasure every passing second. He of course was composed, not sweating and not even breathing, which was a bit strange to see. Just as I was about to have another release I looked up at him and moaned his name, making him intensify his rocking. "Bite me!" I didn't even realize I had said it until his fangs were embedded in my right shoulder, sucking greedily at the blood oozing out. My back arched and I had my last release, from my lips I harsh loud noise came out and finally Eric had his own climax, his fluids not exactly hot inside me but warm and nice. Thank god they couldn't have children, I would have been freaked out if I had to go get Plan B pills because of that.

As I lie across his desk panting Eric was licking lazily at my shoulder where he had bitten, his fangs still out. I was incredibly weak after the sex and thinking about getting dressed again made me even more exhausted. "That was...the most amazing...sex I've ever had." I couldn't get the sentence to come out in one continuous stream. Eric laughed a deep laugh and placed his lips over mine. I accepted him and let his tongue explore my mouth, moaning into him. We kissed over and over again for a while, it seemed we'd switched between me biting his lips and them him doing the same. I pulled away from him gasping for breath.

"You are mine now."


	5. Chapter 5

Despite how spent I felt my mind was at attention, and when those words left him I just about lost my reserve. "What?" I sounded angry, though I was more confused than anything else. "I don't know what you mean."

"I don't want any other vampires tasting you, so you are mine." Leave it to a man to establish what is "his" as soon as possible. I pulled myself up into a sitting position and pushed his body back a little, which he allowed.

"I am not yours." I firmly stated my point and began doing what I like to call "frantically exiting yourself from a situation". This consisted of quickly putting your clothes on and leaving without saying too much. Unfortunately for me Eric wasn't too keen on it.

"Am I not adequate enough for you?" He sounded barely insulted, but rightfully so I suppose. Men are incredibly territorial, so if they find something they like they won't let any other man have it. Women were close to their level but didn't show it as openly as men did. Being a male vampire only amplified the feeling, I'm sure.

"Dollface, you're far more than simply adequate." Start off with a compliment to soften the blow. "But I barely even know you. And I live all the way in Dallas so I don't see how I can be strictly 'yours', sorry." I finished as I pulled up my shoulder straps and began scanning the floor for my undergarmets. "Look, I've got to go. It was certainly a pleasure seeing you again but I've got a long drive ahead of me."

Silently he watched me as I gathered up my discarded clothes and put them back on, most of the time nearly falling over in my heels. I had no idea if I'd be able to walk out of the club without falling on my ass a few times, seeing as my knees would not stop shaking.

After a few minutes of composing myself I turned and gave Eric a smile, he didn't return it though. As I was walking through the door to his office I could hear him walking behind me and then a strong hand placed itself on my shoulder. "I'll be seeing you soon Joceline."

"Don't count on it."

A little over a week had past and I was back home and living life as any normal human would have. Work from eight to six and normal after work activities following that. Jean waited at home for me everyday and my parents called to check up on me, like they did once a week for the past nine years since I stopped living with them. I had been having mild cravings for blood, rightfully so, since my visit to Shreveport but I didn't act on it. As I pulled into my apartment complex I parked and cut the engine. It had been an exhausting day at the office, everyone was busy with rent, since today was the last day to bring it in before it was late. The beginning of the month always sucked.

As I unlocked the door Jean was sitting about a foot away from the entrance, watching me intently. I gave her a strange look, she wasn't meowing or purring or any of the usual stuff she did to greet me. That was always a weird sign. "Hey baby, what's wrong?" I said as I shut the door behind me and picked the cat up. She seemed to cling to me the way she did when she got scared and noticing this I held her close against my chest, patting the top of her head softly. "Oh you poor thing. Did the people cutting the grass scare you again." I joked, walking with her into the bedroom so I could change out of my uniform and into something more confortable.

Setting her down I began removing my clothes, Jean watching me as she perched on my queen sized bed, she seemed to sink into the comfortable like it was snow, I always found that so adorable. Once my day wear was off I rummaged through my drawers to find some shorts and a cami to wear. White cotton shorts and a white cotton top, that color just like black seemed to look so good on me no matter what. I grabbed the cat back up and headed with her to the living room. Once we were both comfortable on the couch I turned on the television and began searching the channels for something to watch. As always I was disappointed with the line-up, cable television was never appealing enough to me. Reality shows were regretfully annoying and most scripted shows were too censored to catch my fancy. My standards were too high to find something acceptable, as it was with most of the things in my life. Defeated I rewatched A Clockwork Orange for the fifteenth time and pet Jean for a while till I fell asleep on the couch.

My eyes jolted open and I realized terrified that I couldn't move. The living room was quiet and dark around me and Jean was no where to be seen. Everything around me was still yet somewhere within every shadow there was movement. _No, God no. _ The thoughts slipped into my head as I frantically looked from side to side, a real chore since I couldn't move my head an inch. In the far corner of the room, from a fog of darkness too deep to see the end of, something moved and I screamed loudly yet only in my mind. _Please, help me! _Though the room around me was silent my own voice in my head was loud enough to make my temples pound, so much louder than I could ever physically scream. I knew what was happening, it was the inevitable night terror and I had to wake myself up. I tried lifting my arms but they merely twitched, I tried kicking my legs but they remained stationary. "Joceline...you are mine." A voice, too similar to my own echoed to me and I felt sweat form on my brow as I caged my eyes on the corner where something was advancing in my direction. "You are mine because I am you." I could feel my chest shake with temors as tears welled into the edges of my eyes and I began screaming over and over again in my head for help. _Mason! Mason please! Mason! _In my panic I found myself calling for the one person who couldn't help me. _Dear heavenly father..._the shadows formed into the shape of a woman, stripped of her clothes and her hair in frayed masses all around her head. _Hollowed be thy name, _as I prayed loudly and attempted to force the words out of my lips the figure began to gain features and as I watched it my eyes widen at the person materializing before me. It was me. _Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. _"You can't get rid of us. I'm coming for you."

I couldn't breath, I couldn't move, and for the life of me I couldn't get myself to wake up. _Mason please help me, please. Help me! No! No! _As she neared closer I felt my body tense and spasm, though my head was still, allowing me to watch this horrible thing in front of me. "You think you can pray? Come on, pray. Pray to your God. But you can't get rid of me, you never could. You are mine!" Suddenly her hands, like wretched long claws thrusted into my chest and I start convulsing violently, screaming for Mason, screaming for help, reciting prayers and most of all screaming to wake up.

Suddenly I regained true consciousness in the middle of whispering Mason's name at the same time there was a loud knock on my door. Gasping for breath I sat up, looking around me as if it would still be there. Against my cheeks warm tears were falling and I felt like my chest was hit by a train. Another knock came and I scrambled to my feet while wiping away the tears, barely able to make it to the door. Still in my panic I threw it open and saw the last person on earth I wanted to see looking down at me. The one and only Eric Northman. Still breathing heavily I simply looked at him for a minute, not sure if I was still awake or not. Some night terrors took only one waking up process, sometimes I would "wake up" a dozen times before I truely accomplished it. "Eric?" My voice was hurried and frightened, causing him to give me an unsure gaze. "What are you...doing here?" If I didn't calm down I was likely to have a panic attack.

"Am I interrupting something?" He asked, looking inside for company. I gave him a look frustration, a hand on my chest as I tried to slow my breathing, the skin under my hand smothered in cold sweat. "Are you not going to invite me in?"

"What?" I thinned my eyes and gave him a quizzical look. "Oh, right." I tried to finish the sentence but I couldn't steady my breathing enough and my head was spinning. After some struggling the rest managed to come out. "Come on in Eric." I said, staggering back so he could get through and waving my arm to the living room. As he walked in he examined everything around him carefully, sizing me up. I wasn't poor but I wasn't sitting pretty. At the moment though he could judge me all he wanted and I'd return the favor by telling him to go to hell if he insulted me about my furniture or sense of interior decorating.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" The words came out as harsh as ever possible. Basically ignoring him I walked into the kitchen and jerked open the closest drawer where a half empty pack of cigarettes was hidden. Grabbing it and the lighter next to it I lit up a cancer stick and turned my attention back to my uninvited guest.

"I didn't know you smoked cigarettes?"

"Only when I'm stressed out." I bit out, inhaling a long breath and exhaling a large gray cloud. "Now please, tell me what the hell you're doing here in Dallas because I'm pretty interested to know. Especially since you come knocking on my door the second I wake up from having a night terror." As I spoke I puffed away at the cigarette, keeping at bay the barrage of tears begging to come out. Every time I had a night terror I'd be crying for half and hour, scared to fall back asleep. I'd only been unsuccessful twice at keeping myself awake after one and when those two times happened horrible things followed.

"I wanted to come see how you were doing,"

"Bullshit." I interrupted, ashing the cigarette in the sink to my left and staring him down. "I don't have time for this right now, so tell me what the fuck you're really here for?" My head was pounding so hard it was giving me a headache and I felt like I was going to faint at any moment but I refused to look weak in front of him. He was suddenly in front of me and I coughed out my last cigarette drag.

"You shouldn't talk to a vampire like that." His words were ice and I looked up at him with a mortified expression. "You should be happy I'm even here. Do you think I search out every woman I've ever tasted." I tossed my cigarette into the sink and pushed at his chest but he wouldn't budge.

"Eric, please don't do this."

"I'm here because I found myself craving you again." Bold answer, but I appreicated the honesty. I couldn't say I was in the mood, I wanted to take a shower and cry, but it looked highly unlikely at the moment.

"I just had a night terror Eric, they're very harsh on my body. I don't think that's such a great idea." If he would be honest than it was only fitting that I returned the favor. He may have been gorgeous but I wasn't in that mindset every time I saw a good looking man. He stepped closer and I backed myself into the counter, hands tight to my sides. I didn't want to look him in the eyes, especially now that I was so mentally exhausted from my little nap, he could easily glamour me and I couldn't fight it. His fingers lightly gripped my chin and lifted my head up to him, though stubbornly I kept my eyes closed. I could feel his influence on my mind, pressuring and probbing so that free will seemed all but possible.

"Joceline, don't be frightened of me." His voice was like a blanket of silk in my head, comforting and soothing me into a state of absent-minded bliss. I tried to ignore the seductive feeling his glamouring had on me, realizing immediately that it was a mistake inviting him in but it was too late to do anything about it now. I didn't want this, not without giving in on my own free will, it was just wrong to force this on someone in this way. I wanted to slap him, throw him out, and spit in his face for glamouring but the longer I felt his mind mingled with my own I could only imagine doing wonderful things with him in my bedroom, my eyes shot open and I gave in to him, at least in that regard. Figuring it was my only option and seeing as it worked with him before I forced all of my frustration into pressure and felt it build within my core, slowly seeping out. I'd show him, I hoped. Finally, after moments passed I pushed with all my power the energy inside me and into him. Thrown off gaurd he stumbled back a tad and I crumbled to the floor as I lost consciousness.

Coming to I found I was in my bedroom, lying across my comforter with Jean sleeping against my side. Lazily pulling myself upright I sat up and looked around the room through blurry eyes, my left hand cradling the side of my head. Eric was on the opposite side of the bed closest to the door, sitting in an arm chair against the wall. He wasn't moving but his eyes were open, he was just there. I didn't know what to do, I knew he was alive because his presence left me feeling rather tingly, but he was just so immobile. Opening my mouth to speak I struggled with what to say but suddenly he returned to reality and blinked his eyes a few times and readjusted in his seat, leaning forward. "Uh..." The sound drifted out of my lips but was followed with nothing but silence.

"You fainted in the kitchen."

"I see that." Smartass. "How long have I been unconscious?"

"Twenty minutes." He answered, resting his elbows on his knees. "I was tempted to leave you on the kitchen floor but decided it would be better to put you in here." He was so romantic I didn't know how I resisted him, right. "Do I get a reward for being so generous?" He added in with a raised brow, I rolled my eyes at him and grabbed Jean from the bed, putting her on the ground. Getting the point she trotted out of the room, giving Eric a very confused and unwelcoming look as she did. I smiled at it as I watched her exit.

"You want my blood so bad Eric, fine, take it." I huffed, lifting my forearm to my lips and biting down hard just below my wrist. The pain was unbelievable as I bit down, twisting the skin between my teeth while I jerked my arm away from my face. Luckily it happened so fast that soon the only pain left was hot and throbbing instead of sharp and overbearing. I held out my hand to him, a small amount of blood left on my lips. Suddenly I realized I could have torn flesh right off my arm and thanked all the heavenly beings out there that I hadn't. To make sure I didn't stain the bed I cupped my other hand under my wounded arm, catching a few red drops aterwards. His eyes caged on the blood then a second later he was sitting on the edge of the bed, towering over me. He bent his head over my arm and began sucking at the wound, in response to the feeling I let out a light moan and lifted my bloodied fingers to my lips, licking them clean.

Just the feeling of tasting blood, even if it was my own, was intoxicating. The warm coppery taste made me feel awakened, as if two minutes prior I wasn't knocked out; I didn't feel exhausted or drained, I felt revived and envigorated. Savoring it as much as I could I closed my eyes and rolled my head back, moaning loudly. I didn't even notice Eric had detached himself from my arm and was looking at me with lustful eyes. All in an instant his mouth was on mine, our lips in a bloody tangle, his tongue forcing itself into my mouth. The more blood I tasted the farther I fell into its spell, grabbing Eric and pulling him into me as fast as I could. He responded by lifting his arm up and cupping my breasts, the action catching me off gaurd but in a good way.

The rest of the night was a blur or blood play, sex, and passionate kisses. When I woke up the next morning I was naked in bed, dried red spots all over my comforter and Jean looking down at me from where she sat on my chest. Frightened I pushed her off and looked from side to side. Of course Eric was gone from my apartment, probably back in Shreveport sleeping in some hole with a big ole' smile on his face. For some reason, I couldn't help but feel violated, but not by Eric, but by my own bad nature. Looking at the alarm clock on my bed side table I read the time and nearly yelled out a curse. I had fourty-five minutes to get to work. A night with my vampire lover and all I got the next day was a rude awakening, a sore arm and not enough time to get ready for my job.


	6. Chapter 6

**Alright, it's taken me a while to write this and for that I'm sorry. Being tied up in job stuff and stupid marriage stuff can take up your once free time. But I assure you my muse is whispering to me on my shoulder and I should be writing more in the coming days. So fear not, this chapter is short, my bad, but the next one should be nice and long and satisfying. Enjoy and review.**

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm late." My voice called as I rushed into the office door, Lena was sitting at her desk with the door open watching me. I threw my purse on my chair and went to clock in, my heels making a sharp sound against the hardwood floors. "I had a long night, damn near put myself in the hospital." I added after I clocked in, walking into Lena's office and giving her my best 'I'm sorry' look. She sighed at me and I felt my shoulders drop.

"Don't worry about it, you haven't been late in over a year. Just make sure you call me next time." She lectured and I gave her a nod before turning on my heel and walking back to my desk to begin my daily work ritual. The day sped by pretty fast, we were still caught up in all of the beginning of the month workloads and lunch came before I could even look at a clock twice. Turning off my monitor I raised myself out of the rolling chair and stretched. "I'll be coming back a little late today, I have to run my the store and get all the food for the breakfast on the run tomorrow. But I shouldn't be more than thrity minutes late." Lena said as she locked up her office, her purse tucked under one arm and the petty cash tucked under the other. Collecting my things I smiled and gave her the 'no problem' hand gesture.

"That's fine, I've got everything under control. Is Jenny coming back from the class tomorrow?" I asked as I walked with her to the front door. Jenny, the assistant manager, got to stay in a fancy hotel down in San Antonio for a management training class for three days. In about two years I'd probably be there too.

"Yeah, it'll be good for her to get back in time to help us with all this rent shit. I don't know why they had that thing in the beginning of the month. Coporate can be fucking retarded sometimes."

"Don't I know."

As we locked the front door and waved good-bye she paused and stomped up to my car. I furrowed my brow at her and stepped back a pace or two. "What the hell is that on your arm?" She snapped, snatching up my wrist and giving it a hard once over. I jerked my arm away from her and cradled it against my chest.

"I had an accident in the kitchen last night." I lied, reminding myself to put a bandage on once I got home. "Don't worry."

"Joce, we're not going to go through this again." She said coldly and I felt like I was going to shrink a few inches. Months back Lena had found some self-inflicted cuts on my arms and for a few weeks after she would check me whenever I came in for work.

"Don't even start." I brushed it off and turned around quickly but she grabbed my collar to keep me still, the action letting one of my little love bites come out into the open. She let out a shriek and I closed my eyes tight, knowing where this was going to go.

"Is that a vampire bite? Joce, how could you?" She asked in a voice too high in tone to be comfortable on my ear drums. I turned around and yanked my collar back from her, staring at her with anger in my eyes. She stepped back and crossed her arms over her chest while I bit my lip to stop myself from cussing my boss out.

"It's my life, if I give a vampire consent to bite me than there's nothing wrong with that. I haven't been with a man in over two years, okay! Two years! I'm a woman and I wanted the company of a man. Just because that man is a vampire, and about a thousand years older than me doesn't mean suddenly I've turned into a heartless sinner." A paused for a moment to breath while Lena looked at me with an almost terrified expression. "Mason is dead! I don't have any men in my life, and finally I've found someone who doesn't make me think about him. Or the fact that he just had to go into the Army to get himself killed! I loved him and he had to die on me! But at least I know that a vampire isn't going to run off and die on me!" I was almost yelling at this point, around the edges of my eyes warm water began to flow and I was nearly panting. "I'm sorry Lena, I'm so sorry." I whispered once I calmed down and realized what I had done. "I've got to go."

Without giving her a chance to reply I got into my car and sped off, not looking back. Once I arrived at my house I threw open the door as if I was expecting to get into a fight with anything I found inside. Jean was no where to be seen when I entered and thankfully so. For the first five minutes I was home everything was a mix of crying and yelling out curses at my empty apartment. For a while I threw around the pillows from the couch and tugged at my hair. Everything seemed to be closing in on me, the emotions that I had kept at bay and for some reason even the walls seemed to be getting closer all around me. Defeated I fell to my knees in the hallway and let my head fall hard onto the carpet.

My lungs were moving so fast at this point I felt as though at any moment they would explode in my chest and every inch of my skin felt like it was shaking, if that was even possible. While this was happening I heard someone open my front door and gasp. I couldn't see who it was but I had a feeling it was the only person who had a key.

"Joce!" Jaemi's voice was loud and made me cringe. She rushed over to where I was doubled over on the floor, wrapping her arm around me protectively. "What happened? Did someone hurt you?" She probably thought someone tried to rob me with the way the apartment looked. I pulled my head up and looked at her, my face red and hot, my hair in a mess around my face. In response she grabbed me and pulled me into her, holding me like a scared child. "Remember to breathe, it's okay. Just breathe." She instructed, brushing a few stray hairs out of my face. "You're okay darling, just breathe." Her voice was as comforting as a warm blanket. After five minutes we were sitting on the floor and finally the crying had ceased, as well as the panic attack. These episodes had the potential to be quite dangerous, depending on the trigger and the location it happened in.

"I'm good now." My voice was wavering but I said the words as sure as I could manage. Jaemi looked me in the face and studied it for a second, making sure I was right. When she was satisfied she released my torso and let me sit up. I took the oppurtunity to stand up, rubbing the sides of my face. Ten minutes later Jaemi and I were eating salads in the small dining room, Jean lying in my lap, fast asleep. "I'm glad you decided to drop by, for whatever reason you did." I thanked her, taking a large bite. She smiled at me as she ate, using her free hand to wave off the thanks as if it were unnecessary.

"I came over because I hadn't heard from you since we came back from Shreveport, I was getting a little worried. Apparently, rightfully so, because it looks like you're not doing so well. It's about lunch time so I figured I'd catch you here eating." She explained, I nodded, finishing up what was left on my plate, waking up Jean lept from my lap. I walked to the kitchen and put the empty plate in the sink afterward turning to Jaemi.

"I've been okay. It hasn't been that bad really, just the same shit I always deal with. For the most part."

"For the most part?"

I paused before replying, figuring I'd word this carefully. Jaemi was turned in her chair now, eyeing me down. "I saw Eric last night." I said innocently, Jaemi didn't look so pleased.

"Eric Northman?"

"Yes, Eric Northman. I didn't plan on it, he just stopped by. And actually, it was a good thing he did because it was his knocking on the door that woke me up from a night terror." I defended it as much as I could but she still didn't look happy about the news. I sighed and fetched out my emergency cigarettes from the drawer. Lighting one up I walked past her and sat down on the couch.

"I could never judge you Joce, and you know that. I'm not going to be a bitch and call you a fang banger. But, I am going to tell you to be careful. Nothing more than that, just be careful." She advised as she picked up her plate and washed it in the sink. I sucked greedily at my cigarette, watching her closely to see if I could tell what she really thought in her movements. She was a little stiff, which showed stress but that was all I could read off her. I would take that any day, I'd yet to see her angry at me but I'd seen her angry at others and that was always a pretty scary sight. She was raised with only brothers so she toughened up alot in her childhood and seeing as she was about three inches taller than me and a bit heavier she came off as intimidating, even to some men.

"Well, thanks for not judging me, I've had enough of that today at work. Speaking of, I've got to head out soon." I said as I finished off my cancer stick and put it out in an ashtray I kept on the coffee table. Leaving Jaemi to her own I went into the bathroom with my purse to fix up my make-up and comb my hair through. I wasn't looking forward to heading back to the office but I didn't have much of a choice.

I left Jaemiat the apartment and was back at the office early, seeing as she had a key I was sure that she'd lock up when she was done. She had a place about twenty minutes away from my apartment but my place was closer to her work so most of the time she came over for lunch, though she hadn't in a while, I suppose she was busy at work. She brought her own groceries over every month because of this, and I was sure to never eat them. Lena came into the office about fifteen minutes after lunch was officially over and I helped her unload the supplies from her car and carried them to the kitchen. We didn't speak much for the rest of the day and I was grateful for it, I was sure at any moment she was going to ask me into her office and have me sign a behavioral write-up for my earlier stunt. At around six-fifteen we closed up and I walked out of the office in front of her, wearing a very stressed and tired expression.

"Joce, can I speak with you for a second?" I turned on my heels when she spoke and walked back up to her at the front door. She was frowning and this made me a bit uncomfortable, my own frown forming. "I was out of line earlier, I shouldn't have assumed anything and more than that I shouldn't have judged you. I'm really sorry for that, I just wanted you to know that I'll keep my comments to myself." She apologized sincerely and I forced a smile.

"It's okay Lena, I lost my temper and that was beyond inappropriate. We both did something we weren't supposed to and I'm sorry for yelling at you like that. I know I shouldn't do that, especially to my boss. I was out of line too." I added in my own apology and she in turn smiled like I had.

"I'll see you tomorrow okay, have a good night and drive safe." She said her goodbyes and I did the same. The drive home was calming and nice, I found myself singing along with the songs I played off of my iPod. Once I finally made it home I sighed a breath ofrelief. I'd had enough drama for the day and if I wasn't careful I could lose myself because of the emotional instability. All was quiet for the two hours I was home and I took that time to think things over in my head about what was happening and what I should do about it. As far as the night terrors were concerned I couldn't really do anything. They came when they saw fit, mostly when I was spiritually or emotionally insecure, and they harassedme until I broke down unless I could find peace and faith in something. My blood cravings had subsided greatly since I had taken my own blood the night before, though I could barely remember it. But when I started to think about Eric I couldn't quite figure out what to do.

After half an hour of internal conflicting I found myself looking up the Fangtasia phone number on the internet, the numbers now punched into my phone and staring up at me from the bright screen. I didn't know why I was nervous, just last night I was having sex with him and now I was afraid to call him. Before I could second think it I pressed the call button and a ring tone was heard. I pressed the phone to my ears and waited patiently. "Fangtasia, the bar with a bite. This is Ginger." The voice said from the other end of the line and I rolled my eyes. What a tacky tag line.

"Is Eric Northmanavailable, I need to speak with him."

"Master isn't available right now."

"Master? Look just go tell him Joceline DeLon needs to speak with him please." A silence followed as she thought it over and then she timidly asked me to hold. I accepted and began tapping my fingers on my knees as I waited. Finally there was some noise coming through the speaker.

"Joceline DeLon, what can I do for you?" His voice was so smooth he could insult me and I'd still be entranced. I gritted my teeth together while I thought about what to say, in all of my thinking I had done and even though I had decided what I was going to do I hadn't thought about all of the minor details.

"Look, it's been great and all but I can no longer be yours."

"Excuse me?" I cringed at how coolly he snapped back with that. I suppose it was up to the vampires when they wanted a human to no longer be theirs. I scratched the back of my head shyly and readjusted in my seat.

"Since you introduced yourself into my life I've been having blood craving and night terrors, if I don't get this shit under control I could lose myself into something horrible. So I need to end this now." I was sure with my words even though I was waiting for Eric to bust my door down at any moment and take the life right out of me.

"Ms. DeLon, I'm sure you're not aware but you are not the one who decides when you no longer belong to me. That is my own decision, and if I am finished with you, you will know." He sounded incredibly vain when he spoke and it made snicker. I hated the bravado of men and it seemed I hated vampire bravado even more than that.

"I didn't call you to argue over who's place it is to end whatever it is that we have. I am calling to clearly state that I will not being seeing you anymore in a sexual way. Good night Mr. Northman." As soon as the last word left my lips I clicked the call off and let a large grin take over my features. Yes, that's how you show 'em. No one takes advantage of Joceine DeLon. If I could deal with pesky Army soldiers for years than I could deal with one little vampire. In a calm state of mind I leaned back on my couch and watched late night cartoons with Jean. Once it was about one o'clock in the morning I took a shower and got ready for bed, but unfortunately that was the last thing about that night I remembered when I woke up the next day.


	7. Chapter 7

**I know, I know. It's been forever and a day since I've put a chapter up. But to be fair I've been working my ass off and not getting enough days off. But the ball is rolling and things are coming out into the open and evolving in the story and I think it's only just beginning. Hopefully they'll hire another person so I'm not working nine straight days again without a day off and I can sit down and write, but we'll just have to see. I hope you like the new chapter. It's nice and long, though not very lemony. Enjoy and review.**

I stirred at around seven-thirty in the morning, the hungry meows of Jean waking me up. I stretched under my covers and wiggled around, not wanting to leave the comfort of my sheets. I always kept the apartment cool, usually around seventy-two degrees because I could never fall asleep warm, I had to be curled into a ball in the bed. In my mouth there was a stale taste, something metallic and familiar, still too sleepy to care I ignored it. After a minute or two I groaned and forced myself out of bed, working on auto-pilot as I walked to the kitchen and started my coffee. As it was brewing I hopped into the shower to get clean before work and when I did I just about had a heart attack. Once the hot water started flowing over my shoulders my eyes began to focus and I noticed the dried traces of blood caked all over my body. Shocked I slammed into the wall behind me and cried out when my skin made hard contact. Coming to my senses I examined myself as best as I could seeing as half of the evidence was already flowing into the drain. Patches of browned crimson were on my stomach, arms and thighs, and not even small patches but large ones, as if I had took a gallon of blood and splashed it all over myself. I couldn't find any cuts or lacerations on my skin, and I checked over myself twice, so the blood was from someone or something else.

After washing away the old blood and getting myself as clean as possible I hopped out of the shower and dried myself, standing in front of the mirror as I did. Was the metallic taste I noticed earlier the same cursed substance stained all over me? I'd never had this happen before, usually my memory was right on the dot and I never let important things, like perhaps committing murder, slide under the radar. Once I was dressed I made myself a cup of coffee, drinking it while smoking a cigarette. Things were too stressful lately, I would need to buy a new pack of smokes after work, I only had about seven left.

All day at work I couldn't focus on my duties, I was too preoccupied trying to remember anything at all about the night before. Something like this had happened a few years back, not being able to remember something that clearly happened. I was staying with Jaemi while Mason was on his first tour in Iraq and had a night terror late one night. Luckily I woke myself up but once I was awake I couldn't keep myself conscious. Something was pulling at my mind telling me to go back to sleep while the physical exhaustion from the night terror left me stricken with fatigue. Jaemi got a bad feeling while she was reading in her room and came in to check on me. She says I was sitting up in bed, naked and cross-legged. I can't recall most of what happened after I woke up, I just know it was a terrible experience. When she tried to keep me awake I scratched her arms up really bad, even managing to leave a scar on her right forearm. I growled at her and snapped at her, like I was possessed by a demon. I remember it like shorts clips of a movie and without much detail. When I think about it I see it in my head not from my own eyes but in third person, as if I was removed from my body.

Jaemi struggled with me for hours, trying to get me to come back to reality. She was literally terrified, I still feel bad for her. According to her accounts I would slip in and out, telling her that I needed to go to sleep, or that it wanted me to go to sleep. Whenever I would look around into the darkness of my room I'd freeze and start weeping as if I was looking at the most horrifying sight imaginable. I would scream that it was there, that it was looking at me, I'd beg her to help me, saying that it wanted me and it was back and would keep trying to get me. Finally at about five in the morning I snapped back into it and couldn't remember anything that happened. The apartment looked a mess, and I myself looked like a zombie when I decided to look at myself in the mirror. For a while, when I was "out of myself" Jaemi tried to get me dressed and out of the apartment because I said it was there watching me. Whenever she tried I'd fall silent and stopped dead in my tracks, even with her strength she couldn't get me to move; at one point I even fainted and fell to the ground. But nothing had happened like that in a very long time, until now. The one part I didn't understand was why this happened when I couldn't recall having a night terror or even waking up for any reason after I had gone to bed.

At around six o'clock we closed up the office and said our goodbyes as we usually did. All my co-workers were excited about the weekend, seeing as it was Friday. I, myself, was planning on what I was going to do about my situation. The paranoia of expecting the police to come bust down my door and arrest me was settling in and I didn't want to wait around and let that happen. I had to get away for a few days, somewhere I wouldn't be found. Once I made it home I called up Jaemi and told her to take care of Jean while I was gone for the weekend; she tried to ask why but I wouldn't even offer her a smidge of information. She was right when she warned me about Eric, I was an idiot for ignoring her. Bad things were happening to me ever since the first night I went to Fangtasia and I was ready to make them come to an end, no matter the cost.

It was an hour later by the time I had my bag packed, changed and was driving to Shreveport, lost in thought as always. I'd have to go talk to Eric tonight at his bar and see if he had any idea about what was happening to me; if he's been alive for over a thousand years he had to know something. From there I'd just have to see how things went. I bought a hotel room about ten minutes away from the bar and tidied myself up before I was ready to go. The way I figured it I wouldn't need my license to get in if Pam was at the door and if someone else was there well I'd just have to flirt my way in. After parking outside Fangtasia I didn't even bother with the line and made my way straight up to the front door. Unfortunately Pam wasn't the bouncer but the vampire at the door seemed to recognize me immediately and let me through. In thanks I smiled at him and ran my hand down his arm as I walked by. The body contact made my arms and legs rise with gooseflesh but it was no where near the feeling Eric gave me. I guess age made a difference, seeing as up until that point Eric was the only vampire I had physically touched.

Once I was inside I walked up to the bar and ordered two shots of well rum and a Budweiser, downing the two shots as soon as I handed the money over. When I turned around Eric was standing not a foot away from me and I gasped at his sudden appearance. "What the hell?" I shrieked at him and rolled my eyes at what he considered the proper way to greet someone. He looked very comfortable tonight, wearing jeans and a t-shirt. It was strange seeing him in such casual clothes in contrast with the other two kinds of clothes I'd seen him in, but either way he still looked amazing as usual. His long hair was braided back into a neat, tight braid. When I noticed it I couldn't help but think about a nicely made noose, though I tried not to let the thought linger.

"As far as our last conversation went on the phone I figured I wouldn't be seeing you again in my bar for quite some time." His response made me feel desperate but I pushed that feeling away and got down to business. Composing myself I smoothed out my burgundy top and leaned back against the bar counter.

"I have some questions for you Eric." I bit out, grabbing my Bud and taking a long swig. One of his eyebrows lifted when he heard this and he repositioned himself a little closer to me, his shoulder almost touching my own. "Where were you last night after I called you?"

"I was here till close, than I went home." He was very straight forward as usual and I figured he had nothing to gain by lying. I studied him closely for a brief moment, trying to read his face. Of course I learned nothing more than what I already knew, which was that he was incredibly curious.

"Can we step into your office please?" I was uncomfortable with how open the setting was for our needed conversation, especially if it pertained to a hypothetical murder. Eric gestured for me to pass and escorted me to his office. The walk to the back was getting a little too familiar for my liking, it seemed that every time I was here I couldn't simply enjoy myself out front, I had to find my entertainment from the owner in his office. I could have sworn I had more reserve than I showed him, but to be fair he wasn't even human and that made being in his presence a lot different than being around any other normal man. Once inside the office Eric walked to his desk and took a seat behind it, I followed suit and sat down in front. Leaning back in his chair he laced his fingers together and waited impatiently for me to continue.

"You've been around for a thousand years, right? So you've seen a lot of things that I never could."

"Yes."

"So I want to know something, and you can be perfectly honest. What is wrong with me?"

The question threw him back at first, I suppose he expected me to ask something completely different like if he would sire me or something of that juvenile nature. My body was rigid as I sat waiting for his answer, he didn't seem to be thinking very hard about it but it was taking him a little too long to answer. "What is wrong with you?"

"Yes."

"You are human, there are plenty of things wrong with you." The harsh quip was uncalled for and obviously unappreciated as I stood up from my seat and leaned over the desk, fuming. Eric perked up when he watched me respond, apparently I reacted in ways he didn't anticipate because everything I did seemed to take him back.

"Look, I'm not here to be your pet, or your slave. I don't want to grovel at your feet for anything. I just want some information from the only person I know who might be able to give me it. I've been convinced for most of my life that there is something...off center about me and I want to know what it is before anything else bad happens." The words came out incredibly fast, a lot faster than I wanted them to. So much for not sounding desperate. It was going to take a lot of work to feel like I wasn't groveling to him for his 'awe inspiring wisdom".

"Bad things you say?"

"Exactly that, bad things. This morning I woke up covered in dried blood. And it wasn't from me, I don't have any lacerations on me except for the ones I got because of you. That means that obviously it wasn't my blood." He leaned forward more and more as he listened to me, his lips curling up a bit in a small grin. I chose that moment to back off and sat back down in my seat, crossing my legs with etiquette. "I can't remember anything that happened an hour after I got off the phone with you. I remember taking a shower and going to bed, but that's it. I just figured since you didn't seem all too pleased about our conversation that maybe you had something to do with it."

"Don't assume anything about me Joceline." He snapped back at me, and I realized that I needed to be more careful with my words. The air in the room was getting tense but I suspected it was only one sided. Eric had no reason to be on edge, and it seemed he had nothing to do with what happened so he was in the clear, me on the other had, I had a lot to worry about.

"I'm sorry, I'm just a little concerned for my wellbeing."

"I had nothing to do with whatever it is that happened to you last night; as much as I would have liked to. As far as what is wrong with you, I have no answer to that either, I hardly know of you beyond your sexual capabilities." He answered a little too honestly, and in that moment it dawned on me that confiding in him wasn't the best of choices because we didn't know each other well what so ever. My body itched to leave but I forced myself to stay seated as long as possible. I didn't know why I wanted to make a deep bond with him, this vampire I hardly knew, but telling him my deep, dirty little secrets seemed to come pretty easily.

"You know what, coming here was a mistake. Why should I expect any help from you? I'm just one of your blood bags. I was right to have ended it with you." I spoke with very little emotion, the words left my lips as coolly as if he had said them himself. Livid I stood from my seat and exited the office, not stopping to look behind me on my way out. The realization struck me hard regarding the truths of what he had said, especially because I knew why I was acting like this. He was the first man I had connected with since Mason and even so, Eric seemed to embrace my strange side with much more ease than Mason ever had since he himself was a blood thirsty fiend.

Once I was back in the front I walked up to the bar almost on fire with anger; the humans present wouldn't be able to tell how steamed I was but I was sure the vampires could under circumstance my heart was pounding a mile a minute. I ordered another two shots, this time of whisky and knocked them back faster than even an Irishman would advise. It was time to forget about my past, my present and hopefully my future. I admit I kept glancing back at the door leading to the office every couple of minutes but Eric never surfaced, which meant I was completely and utterly right about my assumptions. I was gone to him as fast as I had arrived. Though I usually danced when I was there before tonight I never left my bar stool, ordering a new drink as soon as the one before it was finished.

After about two hours the bar was spinning and I was lost of all reasonable thoughts and inhibitions. Using all my drunk courage I stood up, which was a real chore, and marched up to Eric's office, pushing open the door with all the force I could muster. The door slammed against the wall with a hard thud and Eric's eyes shot up to me with slight vexation. I walked inside the room silently, closing the door roughly behind me after I did. Eric dropped his pen and just sat there as quiet as I was, waiting for what my next move was. I hadn't thought about my chain of events past this point so I was winging it.

"I thought perhaps you would understand what it's like to look at everyone around you and wonder how their blood tasted and not who they are. Blood lust is what you vampires have, not what humans have. I've been this way since I was a child, a child who couldn't understand what was wrong with her and why. You got instructions on your condition, you were brought over when you were old enough to comprehend it. I never had that luxury. And beyond that I get harassed in my sleep by...by something that I have no idea about. I don't know if it's a creature or my own mind. I go to sleep normal and I wake up a monster. One moment I have hope and sanity, and then the next I am keeping myself from choking the life out of a stranger on the street. It doesn't make any fucking sense."

I stopped to breath and hopefully allow Eric to put in his own two cents, though he didn't. My feet shuffled beneath me as they attempted at keeping me standing and I wobbled to my earlier seat. I fell into the chair with little to no grace and eyed him intensely, a mixture of emotions swarming violently in my head.

I couldn't say I had a good and a bad side at this point, it was more of a drunk side and my equally as bad strange side battling for dominance. On the other side of the desk Eric was watching every little move I made, wondering to himself if I was going to be a problem that needed to be dealt with accordingly. Tired of the dead air in the room I spoke again.

"Just give me a hint of something, anything. When vampires came out of the coffin I felt a little more at ease, because there were others out there like me, yet you really aren't. There is a solid reason why you are the way you are, and it's the blood that runs through your veins, as for me it probably lies somewhere in my psyche."

"Have you looked into Renfield's syndrome?" I perked up with his answer, though still too drunk to fully comprehend anything he was telling me. Feeling it necessary to elaborate he leaned forward and caught eyes with me. "Renfield syndrome is when humans like yourself have an obsession with blood. Mostly, from what I understand it's centered around a sexual reaction to blood but it's more than a fetish. It's very uncommon that a female, like yourself, has this if that's what's really ailing you."

"Renfield's syndrome, isn't Renfield from Dracula?"

"Yes, Renfield is a character from the book. Technically it's called clinical vampirism, but now is commonly known as Renfield's syndrome because of the behaviors of the character from Stoker's novel." He explained it so clearly and confidently I couldn't doubt that this disorder was what I had been dealing with all my life.

"Well, thank you." I was agitated earlier but since he indulged what knowledge he had I couldn't help but feel the anger subside. If I indeed suffered from clinical vampirism, or Renfield's syndrome than perhaps I could get help for my cravings. Yet if that was the reason for the bloodlust than what was the reason for the night terrors and mindset changes. "What about the other stuff then?" I had to at least try to find out something on my other problems while I was here and stuck here for the rest of the weekend.

"You could be schizophrenic." I didn't take this answer as lightly as I had the last. I admit to having my own list of mental disorders but schizophrenia was a bit extreme from my own point of view. I was able to fully function in normal society as an adult and if I'd never been treated for schizophrenia growing up than by now one would assume they'd have digressed to a point of needing to be hospitalized. True, I was committed in my teenage years but I was treated for other issues. As for the symptoms as far as I knew, or could remember in my inebriated state, I was not socially isolated and held a job that required constant contact with strangers. As well as the fact that my hallucinations weren't usually while I was awake and aware, rather they were when I was "asleep" which wouldn't make them really hallucinations. The night I was "possessed" as Jaemi puts would classify as such but that was about it.

"You think I'm that crazy?" I bluntly asked and Eric let out a roar of laughter that made my cheeks flush, how embarrassing. "I'm not psycho, I can damn sure tell you that." I cracked, sneering a bit with a new frustration. Night terrors were usually a result of post-traumatic stress disorder; which is seen mainly in soldiers, as I had well seen after Mason came back from his tour in Iraq. But the disorder did affect seemingly normal people who had seen or experienced something grisly or disquieting to just themselves or to anyone who might witness it. Yet when I pondered it over in my head I couldn't come up with any event in my life when I was still very young that would trigger PTSD and night terrors. One would figure that the night terrors or random hallucinations sparked would be flashbacks from whatever it was that caused it but my night terrors weren't flashbacks of any kind. A good way to think of what they consisted of was that they were different planes of reality in the same location where you fell asleep that were your own worst fears and pin pointed to psychological mind-fuck you in any way possible.

"Humans who flock to vampires in blind, naive admiration and expect to be brought over are crazy. Old women with forty cats living in their house are crazy. Humans who talk to themselves and yell at inanimate objects are crazy. But you Joceline are not what I would categorize as crazy. I can not say what an actual psychologist might think of you but I can give you an honest opinion of what I think." His words were sincere as far as I could tell but that was about as far as I could throw him. After having to survive for a thousand years manipulation would come as easy as breathing, or maybe in his case as easy as killing.

A knock came to the door and I swung around in my seat to look at whoever might enter. "Yes?" Eric's voice seemed to boom loudly, alerting anyone who might be on the other side of the door that whatever he said was the final answer. I couldn't imagine being his subordinate and not obeying anything he ordered of me.

"It's Pam."

"Come in." Eric invited and the door slowly opened to reveal Pam in a gothic style outfit wearing very high platform boots that were of course black like the rest of her clothing. "Can I help you? I am in the middle of something at the moment." He asserted dominance in each word as usual but it seemed between the two of them it wasn't entirely necessary. I hadn't really thought about it before but now I found myself wondering about what sort of relationship they had with each other.

"Mr. Cataliades is here to see you."

"I'll be right with him."

I had no idea who Mr. Cataliades was but from how quickly Eric responded I could tell that he was important. I turned back around to look at him and when I did I noticed his face was now void of any human expressions that the ancient vampire could still muster. "I guess that means I need to leave then?" I asked innocently, turning momentarily back to Pam, who too wasn't showing much emotion. Eric nodded to my question after I was looking at him again and I took the opportunity to take my leave. Standing up as swift as a drunkard could I then walked to the door but threw Eric one last glance before leaving. "I would like to talk to you some more if you are available later." I added before I was out of view and he gave me another quick nod. I bit the inside of my cheek at the reply I was given and then left their line of sight.

Once I was back in the bar area I ordered something non-alcoholic to drink to save myself from any embarrassing moments that might ensue should I continue with beer. The bartender from before, who then introduced himself as Chow, gave me a strange look when I didn't order alcohol but got the drink for me none the less. Somewhere in the room there was a creature that was neither human nor vampire, and the feeling of it's presence scared the hell out of me. Nervously I scanned my surroundings, trying to pick it out amongst all the freaks I was surrounded with and was having a bit of trouble. Suddenly my eyes landed on a sizeable man standing near the entrance door. His appearance and clothes stood out stunningly from everyone else, and when looking at him I found myself feeling scared and sick to my stomach. He had to be around six feet tall, and wearing a dark suit complete with a white shirt and black tie. His body was very round, from his balding head to his stomach and the whole essence of his being could give even the toughest guy the creeps. From the opposite side of me Pam came walking by and then met up with the stranger I was evaluating, saying something and escorting him to the back where Eric was waiting. "Alright then, that must be Mr. Cataliades." I whispered under my breath, watching the two walk by. As they passes Pam sparred me a wink and I smiled at her, turning away from the pair and focusing back on my drink.

Since I was playing the waiting game time passed terribly slow so when I was able to do so I made conversation with the people around me. Chow wasn't much for talking I quickly found out but the fang bangers around me surely were. At first a large amount of women came up to me, obviously envious of the vampire love I was getting and asked me questions about Eric. I was depressed at the thought that they didn't want to know about me but I could imagine that a handsome vampire was more interesting to them then some random girl in a bar. I answered all the questions I could that I deemed appropriate but wouldn't budge on sexual inquiries. I wasn't one to kiss and tell, or fuck and tell for that matter.

"What was it like? You know, when he like bit you?" Asked a twenty-something Goth-punk woman sitting next to me at the bar. The question seemed outlandish due to the barrage of bite marks she sported but I smiled and divulged what I could.

"It was exhilarating I guess. I mean, I haven't been bitten by any vampires other than him so I couldn't tell you if he's any different from the others." I answered with utmost honesty and the girl seemed unsatisfied with my answer. After looking from side to side for a moment to see if any one was looking she leaned forward and I followed suit.

"I heard that he holds a very important position in the vampire circle. He's like a sheriff or something."

"A sheriff? What?" I was still a little drunk but after my encounter with the previously mentioned I had gained back some of my sobriety. When I thought about the word sheriff a few things instantly came to mind, but Eric Northman wasn't one of them. Characters from old Westerns with cowboy hats, golden sheriff badges and six shooters however did.

"Yeah, he's like in charge of all the vampires around here, they have to listen to him. That's what I heard anyway." From the way she continued to use the word "like" in her speech I made the assumption she was previously a valley girl before she came over to the dark side. "It's pretty amazing that he picked you to be his pet, you're really lucky." She ended and with that I found myself considering going back to beers and shots of vodka. Not only was I entangled with a thousand year old vampire, but he was also a politically powerful vampire in a position of authority.

"I'm not his pet, for one, and I don't consider myself lucky the way y'all would think. Yes, he's gorgeous and stunning, and yes he can do things in bed I didn't think I'd ever get to experience but I think all y'all are forgetting a really important thing when it comes to being with vampires."

"And what would that be?" Eric's voice floated in from behind me and I froze. The woman I was talking to had stilled herself just as I had when he spoke, surprise and fear in her eyes. I suppose talking about a vampire behind their back was a bad idea, especially if that vampire was Eric. I turned to face him after a short pause, despite how much I didn't want to and saw that there was a smile on his face. Whether that smile was because of my actions I didn't know.

"You guys aren't human and for some haven't been for centuries. You don't think like we do, and you don't feel like we do." My drunk honesty was returning at an alarmingly fast rate and I couldn't seem to keep my mouth shut. "We, as humans, can think that you may like us or have a chemistry with us the way a human companion would but the chances you do are slim to none." After I finished the Goth-punk found it to be an opportune time to leave, which I was thankful for but Eric continued to stand there and watch me. "There is only so much our two kinds can have in common, and that small amount of similarities are startling once you take a moment to think about it."

"Do you really believe what you're talking about or are you simply talking like this because you're drunk?"

"Both."

"Than how does it feel for a person like yourself, who is somewhere on a borderline between the two and can't completely fit in with either side?" I took in a long breath when I heard the question, not sure how to answer him in any capacity. Unnerved I turned back around to face the bar in an attempt to hide the fact that I was frowning. "And now you know that I am sheriff of area five in Louisiana." The information didn't help me or affect me, seeing as I was not a vampire and I was not a resident of Shreveport or any of the cities surrounding it. Other than having had sex with him twice I was free of whatever reign he had.

"Um, I do. But I don't even know what a vampire sheriff is so it doesn't really matter what I know. And I have no places in your vampire affairs, I'm just some chick you fucked twice." I growled, turning to Chow and waving him down. Once Chow arrived, giving Eric a suspicious look before speaking to me, I ordered a gin and tonic and he gave it to me for free, insisting it was on the house. I knew that had something to do with the fact that Eric was standing over my shoulder but I guess I'll take a free handout when presented.

"I've said something that upset you?"

"No, you haven't. You said the truth, and the truth isn't always sunshine and rainbows. Especially when it's coming from a vampire, no pun intended." The last part seemed necessary, considering the name of the place I was in.

As I grabbed up my drink and took a long swig Eric invited me to sit with him up on his gaudy little thrown and I accepted. Again, as per usual, every human female in the joint eyed me jealously, most of whom had flocked to me with shockingly blunt questions. Once we were seated I leaned back and tried to keep my eyes anywhere but on my handsome vampire, studying the walls and pictures surrounding me.

"So, who's Mr. Cataliades?" I asked, though sure I wasn't going to get an answer from him. The guy looked scary and important, and because I wasn't a vampire or involved with their problems I doubted I was on a need to know basis.

"A business associate of mine, or of my…boss you could say." He answered, his eyes trailing through the bar from one wall to the other. That was more information than I expected and satisfied I let my curiosity die down to nothingness. "Tell me Joceline, if you have this bloodlust that you say you do, do you want to drink my blood?"

My eyes widened momentarily when he inquired about the touchy subject. Drinking vampire blood was the most powerful drug out there now that they were out in the open. Apparently it made you feel invincible and it gave you a great heap of strength. In the news there've been some stories about people who've abused it and ended up dead. And not only was it incredibly dangerous but it was just as expensive. But then again people who are prone to substance abuse weren't concerned with the prices. "I haven't even thought about it. The prospect of it is intriguing to an extent, but only under circumstance that it's your blood, not the fact that it's v juice and has the ability to get me high. I don't care about drugs. I tried them when I was a teenager but I don't like feeling altered. I really only feel interested in human blood, but then again I've only really been around humans. I haven't been around many vampires, or at least I don't think I've been around many vampires, but who knows how many I've met before y'all came out of the coffin."

"You're very interesting."

"I know right." I quipped with a short laugh, taking another drink. "Why do you want to know?"

"I'm just curious." I doubted that was the only reason but I let it stand at that, turning to face him and he caught my gaze for a moment. Flushed I turned away and started people watching, nursing my cup tightly in my hands. There was an air of awkwardness floating around us, or at least it was from me. "So you believe you've murdered someone?"

"I have no idea, I may have, or not. I didn't try tasting the blood that I found on me to be sure but I can assume it was human not animal. Animal blood is really nasty, or at least it was the last time I tried it."

"You've drank from animals?"

"I tried it, and that's it." I asserted, more embarrassed than I already was at my situation. "I figured I couldn't get human blood whenever I wanted and animal blood is a lot easier to come by. The taste is disgusting and bland, and it doesn't help my cravings at all."

"Very true." He seemed to be talking more to himself than me when he spoke his peace about the subject and hearing it I smiled a little to myself. For some reason the imagery of Eric drinking from a dirty stray dog came to mind and him wearing bum clothes because he was in a bit of a pinch and couldn't get anything else.

"I'm here in Shreveport because I don't think it's a good idea to stay in my area, just in case the cops come looking for me. They'll come eventually if I can be tied to whatever crime I committed but I'd like to hold off answering any questions till I can formulate an alibi or a story that sounds good enough to be true. Hopefully it just looks like a vampire did it and they never come looking for me, no offense." I glanced at Eric when I spoke the last part, shrugging my shoulders at him.

"None taken." He insisted, pulling a sleek cell phone out of his pants pocket. I tried not to seem interested at whatever he was doing on his phone but it probably didn't come off too well. "I've got some more business to attend to tonight, but I would like for you to go to dinner with me tomorrow night if you'd like."

I was taken back by his proposal for many reason. For one, there was the fact that he didn't even eat food, and secondly, I also didn't know how to take it, seeming as how our relationship was pretty simple, and that was exchanging information, blood, and sex. "That'd be great. Just call me when you…wake up?" I cocked my head to the side as I finished my acceptance, not sure if they called it waking up, or rising or something else entirely.

"Fantastic, good night my Joceline."


	8. Chapter 8

The next night I was up and ready at my hotel room, dressed in the appropriate wear for a night out at a fancy restaurant. I was not familiar with the area so when I had learned that we were going to Superior's Steakhouse I went ahead and assumed that it would be a very high end place and I better make myself look like I had money, though I didn't and my date did. Earlier in the day a girl by the name of Ginger dropped off a long white box to me at my hotel, telling me that it was a present from Eric and also letting me know where we were going, and inside the box of course was a very expensive dinner dress. Wasting time I did a few turns in my stunning cream dress; with its thin spaghetti straps and clingy silk fabric. Usually I went with bone-straight hair but tonight, to create my illusion, I added very light waves and a little extra body to it, which was a whole lot of work if you ask me. I accompanied these with light but flattering make up and a pair of cream Ralph Lauren peep-toe heels. I was sure that I looked good enough to eat there but I probably wouldn't know for sure until Eric got there and took in the whole outfit together.

About an hour after sunset I heard a single, loud knock at my hotel door and scuffled over to answer it; walking in heels was like gambling with me, one day I could do it while other days I couldn't. When I answered the door I stood still for a moment taking him all in. Eric was dressed in a lovely, to say the least, black suit, complete with a white dress shirt and a gray tie. The suit was obviously custom fitted and tailored to his large stature. I blushed a little while I took it all in and noticing he smiled. "You like?"

"Well, yes." I bumbled out, and then invited him in while I grabbed my purse and other necessities. "I just wanted to say thank you for the dress, it looks way too expensive though."

"Nonsense. There is no need to thank me when it looks that good on you." He complimented, walking inside. As always he looked a little too big for the small room, and being conscious of this I quickly grabbed my things and we left. Eric's fire engine red Corvette seemed fitting of his personality in a way, as it was bold, powerful and somewhat over the top. I didn't comment on the car though, despite how much I wanted to. As we drove to the steakhouse there wasn't much conversation going on, for the most part I clutched the side of the car hoping not to die with how fast he was driving, and he stayed focused on the road, cutting in and out of cars. By the time we got there I was thanking the Lord I was still on this earth.

"I appreciate your eagerness to have dinner with me but I think the speeding was slightly unnecessary." I bit out, patting down my hair in several places. Eric laughed a little at the comment as he came to the other side and opened my door for me. I took his hand to get out of the car and felt him pull me up with little to no effort. He tossed the valet his keys and they zoomed off with his ride, preoccupied with taking in the place I didn't watch it drive off. All the people around me seemed important in some way, whether locally or state wide and they all dressed within the dress code of business casual while they walked around with a gaudy air about them. From time to time a more normal looking person would come to view but in the two minutes I was there while Eric got his valet ticket that was only about three people.

Eric escorted me inside, holding me gracefully from around my waist. It made me a bit uncomfortable, as I felt like a pretty doll someone was showing off but I tried to take it as a compliment. Once we made it to the host stand we were greeted by a well dressed man who gained a smile upon seeing the tall vampire. "Mr. Northman, it's always a pleasure." The host offered as we neared him. "We have your reservation ready for you and your beautiful friend." I blushed.

We followed the host to a smaller room in the restaurant that he tastefully explained was their wine room, where their guests can have a more intimate experience and not have to worry about being intruded on by the other people at the restaurant and of course the room screamed elegance. I wasn't a street rat but the wine room looked far too nice for me to be in it. I suspected the room usually held a long table but tonight it only had a small little square four-setter with spotless white table cloth and expensive glasses and tableware. There was a glass of dark red liquid ready for Eric and a glass of some sort of white wine ready for me, accompanied by a vase of lovely white and red roses. I had to admit I was taken aback by the effort, especially since I hadn't really dated in a long time, and I wasn't used to the whole 'trying to impress' feeling the room contained.

My well mannered date pulled out my chair for me, of course, and then pushed it in once I was comfortably seated, thereafter taking his own seat. "This is all very, very nice." I stumbled with the words a little, eyeing the pieces of artwork that lined the walls. "You didn't have to go through so much for little ole' me." I joked, taking up the glass of wine and swirling it lightly.

Once the wait staff came in to take my order I ended up getting one of their more popular items on the menu, the Superior Surf and Turf, and Eric ordered another glass of synthetic blood. "Are you enjoying your wine?" Eric asked and I smiled to him and nodded. It was a great wine, an expensive Sauvignon Blanc. I sipped it with a false confidence, trying to seem at home in this high end place.

"It's great."

"I'm glad that you are enjoying yourself." He politely retorted and again I nodded though I was still uncomfortable there and was struggling to figure out why exactly he brought me here in the first place. "Would you like a sip of my drink?" When he offered I found myself lifting a brow at him and giving off a rather confused expression.

"Well, I suppose I can try." I agreed and Eric held out the glass to me, of which I took with extreme care. I lifted the contents to my lips, wavering for a moment before taking a sip. At first I cringed a little, the synthetic blood made the real stuff taste so much better and suddenly I felt disgusted at my taste for having the real thing. I let the drink settle on my tongue briefly before I swallowed and handed him back the glass. "It's…different."

"Not as good as the real thing, but close enough."

"I appreciate all this but I still don't understand why you took me here." I stuttered out, sipping my wine to wash away the after taste of the synthetic blood. Eric grabbed my hand up and held it softly, or what he would consider softly and I would consider rather firm.

"My delicious Joceline, I wanted to show you that it's not all about the amazing sex we've had." I huffed lightly at the obvious bravado.

"I'm not yours anymore." I couldn't have said that any less confident if I tried. "I already established that the other night." I let my eyes drop when I spoke, fearful of what sort of reaction I would get. As much as I wanted to be his, and be ravished and spoiled by him it wasn't safe and it wasn't smart. I wasn't going to trade sunlight for moonlight so I could spend more time with him, I wasn't going to put my health at risk by bloodletting any time possible and I wasn't going to be fiscally irresponsible and drive to Shreveport every weekend to be near him, nor move down here and ruin the stature I've gained at my job after two years. We were from two different universes in many different ways.

"I won't let any other vampires have you."

"Who said anything about another vampire?" I quickly corrected, looking up at him and furrowing my brow. "I'm not a fang banger, I don't flock to the undead, and I don't have a tattoo of willing donor on my forehead. Do you think that maybe I want a normal relationship with a normal man?"

"But you are not normal."

Way to put the knife in my heart, frustrated I ran my hands through my bouncy locks. "That may be so but how can I be yours if you live four hours away from me. I've already dealt with long distance relationships in the past and it's not pleasant. And we don't even have a relationship. Not yet anyways. Again I appreciate all this but this is our first date." I exaggerated the word 'first' so he could understand what I was getting at. "And don't get me wrong, you're great, but I barely know you and I don't want to be too naïve about all this. You're not just a vampire you're a sheriff, which I don't even know what that means."

In the silence that followed my speech I could hear my cell phone vibrating in my purse but chose to ignore it. This wasn't a time to be rude and interrupt our conversation for a casual talk with friends and family. "I could easily glamour you into accepting."

"You can't glamour me. Well, technically you can but you know I can fight it." He smirked at this and that made me worry. Since I was looking him in the eye while we talked, which I had been taught was what you were supposed to do since I was a kid, I was at his mercy. I felt his influence on my mind in seconds, tangling and pressuring me to fall to his will as soon as he commanded it, but I struggled as much as I could.

"You are mine Joceline, are you not?"

"Yes, I am yours." The words didn't even feel like I was saying them, though they left my lips without a doubt. In my mind I was so outraged that I wanted to punch him square in the jaw.

"You will not let another man touch you, you are only mine."

"I would never want any other man touching me, I only want you Eric." The longer I was entranced the farther his influence sunk and the more I started believing what I was saying. It was monstrous. Just as I was falling deeply under his spell, more than ever before, the wait staff returned with my entrée and Eric's second glass of True Blood. Interrupted Eric's eyes snapped away from mine and I began blinking and shaking my head. "You asshole." I hissed, balling my hands into fists. Violated I pushed my chair back, just as my food was being set down before me and stood, grabbing my purse as I did. "Don't ever treat me like a fucking child again with that glamouring shit. I decide what I will do and will not do. And being yours is up to me and me only." I finished, throwing the napkin I had on my lap to the table top and turning to leave. "You would think that a man like you wouldn't need to do this in order to have me, if you had an ounce of patience." With all the commotion the servers had rushed out of the room as soon as possible, leaving us alone and leaving me completely vulnerable to Eric. Offended he stood and had grabbed my arm faster than I could follow and I began yanking away from him. In the offense I quickly wrenched and then raked my fingers down the side of his face, grabbing skin and blood and stealing it greedily beneath my nails. Shocked Eric released me and I ran out of the wine room and to the front of the restaurant, dodging awkward glances from all the people around me. As soon as I ran outside I looked from side to side trying to fish out a plan before Eric could catch up to me.

Thinking on my feet I turned right and started running to nowhere, my heels loud on the concrete. I had to get away from him and his unjustified powers of persuasion. I could feel his cold blood on my finger tips and it made me jumpy, the impulse to lick it away and taste it was strong enough I almost stopped dead in my tracks. At the nearest intersection of Line and Pierremont I ran across the street, dodging honking cars and nearly collapsing against the side wall of a wireless store. Strained I leaned against the building and caught sight of the traces of blood on my fingers, lifting them to my lips and faltering but dropping my hands to keep myself from licking. As I doubled over I tried to catch my breath but seeing Eric's shoes suddenly two feet away made my breathing stall in my lungs.

"Running wasn't necessary."

"I beg to differ." I said in between gasps of breath. "The scratching probably pissed you off." I added, rightfully so I noticed once I lifted my gaze up to him. The wounds had healed but specks of crimson remained on his cheek where the open scratches should have been. His facial expression was one of annoyance and misunderstanding. Confused, tempted and scared I quickly turned my head away.

"You are very strong willed."

"No shit." I whispered as I pushed myself off of the wall and began walking to my right, away from him. Without hesitation Eric followed me, from behind I could hear his shoes on the sidewalk. I hoped there could be a little bit of silence while I walked but Eric didn't want that.

"I know that there is something very interesting about you but I don't know what yet."

"I'm glad I can be food for thought." I snapped, clutching my purse tighter. "I want you Eric, more than I should." I said, stopping and turning around to face him. "I think about the wonderful things we've done and I get all hot and bothered. You're so gorgeous and beautiful. You're strong and more of a man than any I've met. But you're not a man and you're not mine. Neither am I yours. Why? Because we've only known each other for about two weeks. I'm just another girl Eric, I may be an interesting one but I'm just another girl. Let's face it." I asserted my opinion but by the looks of it, it was going in one ear and out the other to him. "Listen, I think about you all the time, since Mason I haven't thought of someone this much. But I'm twenty seven, I'm not a hapless youth anymore and I can't act like it. I'm a woman and I'm a strong woman, I will not be seduced, used and then thrown out, I will not allow that. You are…"

In the middle of my sentence Eric grabbed me and pulled me into him, my face meeting with his chest. Against his jacket I made a barely audible "Oomph" sound. "You are talking too much." He nonchalantly interrupted which set off about a thousand bad nerves in my head. "Is it really so difficult to give yourself to me?"

"No, it's not. It's incredibly easy."

"Is that not a good thing?"

"No it's not!" I yelled into his chest, wiggling out of his grip. "I don't understand why you can't comprehend this."

"Do not insult my intelligence."

"I'm not insulting your intelligence; I'm merely saying I can't for the life of me understand your logic. I'm going back to my hotel. I'm sorry for wasting this opportunity for a beautiful night but I've got to go." I said my regards than walked past him in the direction I thought was to my hotel. It may be wrong but if it was away from Eric and his faulty logic I was willing to try it out for the time being.

"You're going to get yourself killed walking all the way back to your room from here at night."

"I'm a big girl I think I can manage it." I huffed over my shoulders, sparing him a last glance. Eric said something in a language I couldn't understand but by his tone I could tell it was a frustrated curse. He could bitch and moan all he pleased but I wasn't a whore, and I more importantly wasn't his whore. I had been walking for about twenty minutes and I wasn't very pleased with my results. I looked like a target for any creep to pick up and my heels felt like they were going to fall apart. The next time I wanted to be a personal hero to myself and walk away from the guy who gave me a ride, I would have to be sure to wear sneakers instead of peep-toes.

"Who does he think he is? You can't always get everything you want. A man should respect a girl who doesn't just give in. I'm not desperate. I didn't fall to his knees. He's the one who approached me." I was mumbling angrily to myself as I walked, my eyes mostly on my feet. "I saw him but I wasn't going to go up to his stupid ass throne and offer myself to him. He's the one who saw me and liked what he saw enough to act. He made the first move. I responded." I was trying to completely justify my opinions and actions and so far I was doing quite well. "Is that not a good thing? Of course that's not a good thing. What kind of woman would I be if I submitted to every man who showed interest in me. I'd be a slut. And I'm not a fucking slut." After another thirty minutes of mindless ranting and endless walking I was getting incredibly tired and becoming annoyed, which was what I was trying to prevent.

"Such a beautiful woman, what are you doing wondering around at night by yourself?" A voice echoed from behind me and in my passive rage I spun around and confronted the stranger. In the darkness I couldn't see much, only that he was obviously a male, around five feet and ten inches. He was wearing some sort of jacket but I couldn't tell what kind.

"Fuck off."

"Feisty I see."

"If you don't piss off you'll see just how 'feisty' I can be asshole so why don't you go suck a dick." I bit out, giving him the one finger salute and turning back around. There was a tense silence following my vulgar reply, and though my words were courageous I wasn't quite sure how this situation would pan out. To keep the confrontation from continuing I started up walking again, not bothering to look behind me but paying very close attention to anything I heard.

"I'm two hundred years old, you can't talk to me like that bitch." The stranger proudly yelled after me and I rolled my eyes unseen.

"Yeah, well come see me when you're over a thousand years old, because till then you're not even a blimp on my radar." I laughed back, thinking about how I was pursued by the vampire sheriff and then some scummy little vampire thinks he's got the bigger balls. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some ground to cover and you are hindering it."

Before even three seconds could pass the vampire was in front of me now, his fangs out and a weird hissing noise escaping his parted lips. My heart beat multiplied about five times and suddenly I didn't feel so courageous anymore. Yet something inside told me I couldn't surrender to some asshole who preyed on women at night, vampire or not. Forcefully he grabbed my wrist and pulled me forward in one strong movement. With my fatigue I fell face first into the vampire, knocking us both to the ground with a hard thud. Since he was much stronger than I could ever hope to be he grabbed up my wrist again and flung me towards a brick building close by and once my body made contact I screamed out at the pain. From the floor I could see him advancing at me, rage in his every movement and malice shinning off his eyes. _This is not how I thought I was going to die. _I thought defeated, slinking against the wall at my back and curling my knees to my chest.

Suddenly a thought sparked in my mind, if Eric was the sheriff of the area than wouldn't he be upset if another vampire bit me or even killed me. "If you don't cut this shit out Eric Northman is going to kill you." I said between gritted teeth and to my surprise the man stopped.

"What do you know of Eric Northman?" He snapped, I could tell he wanted to continue but a small piece of him was weary.

"I know that he's the sheriff of area five and that I am his." I may have denied his 'ownership' of me all night but if it would save my life I'd play along with the whole 'mine' thing, even if I didn't know how long those strings he had over me stretched.

"Bullshit."

"Where do you think I got these bite marks from, huh? Some low life like you? Fuck no, and he would never allow any other man, let alone vampire touch me."

"You're lying."

"I only wish I was. No run off before I call him and tell him that you're trying to get what's his." I barked, struggling to my feet. I was going to be scratched and bruised in the morning I could tell and if he didn't heed my warning I might not make it that long. As I was slowly making way the vampire grabbed my throat and trapped me to the wall, sneering at me like an angry cat. I guess this guy didn't believe me. It was worth a try. Terrified I closed my eyes shut and waited for something to happen, whether a savior or a death. As quickly as I felt his fangs on my neck they were gone and I opened my eyes. He was gone, nowhere in sight. Relieved I let out a long sigh and relaxed against the wall. For once knowing Eric was a good thing.


	9. Chapter 9

**Here you go. I know it's a bit short but I wanted to end it where it ends so that the next chapter could be its own little segment. And work has me feeling a little dead to the world. No pun intended. Enjoy and review.**

Nearly two weeks ago I had my first date with Eric and since then I have been staying at home and avoiding anything dealing with vampires. I got a call from a Shreveport number the other day but I didn't answer and they didn't leave a message so whatever it was, it wasn't that important. From time to time I find myself thinking about what I may have done to get all that blood on me and wondering whether or not I am responsible for someone's death and I can't even recollect how. The thoughts can't linger though because if they do my mind goes to a weak place. But what I can say is that I've been trying to learn about the possible clinical vampirism I may have. From where I sat at the dining room table the light from my laptop illuminated most of the living room behind me. I had the day off and with my down time I decided to do a little internet research.

Clinical vampirism isn't recognized as an actual disorder, which really put a dent in me finding out any real information, and most of the sites that I found were sad excuses of help. I wasn't a thirteen year old who was obsessed with vampire romance novels and looking for a way to connect with my fetish and my hormones. I wasn't trying to be accepted into the new world of vampires readily available in some way without becoming an actual member of the undead. And I wasn't trying to look cool so that I would be the most popular kid at the Goth club. I didn't have a picture of a vampire on all my online profiles, nor did I parade my problem around the internet like it was something worthy of bragging rights. Yet this was all that I could find and I'd been looking and reading for hours. Just reading this stuff was making me sick of vampires more than I already was. And then, by some form of luck, or lack thereof I stumbled upon a website where the writer decided to look at 'vampire killers' and there link to the unrecognized disorder.

"My god Jean, this is horrible." I whispered and a meow was returned from Jean who sauntered over and jumped onto the table for a better look. From what I saw in front of me I had no hope for myself now. People like the Gentleman Vampire of the 1940's, or Richard Chase the "Dracula Killer". All these people were convinced in some form or fashion that they needed blood to survive and that murder was an acceptable means of getting it. When I pondered on it I couldn't seem to get myself to connect my symptoms with that of the killers. I wasn't delusional, I was able to separate fiction from reality and I could function quite normally in my everyday life. But when I saw blood or if I even thought about it a little too hard I couldn't push the thoughts out of my head of drinking. How was I to explain the urges to hurt others? Was it all related? I wasn't willing to give myself the insanity plea, not yet.

When my cell phone rang I jumped up out of my seat frightened, looking around as if some phantom killer was going to stab me to death and eat my organs. "Fuck." I whispered, containing my anxiety and going to get my phone. "Hello?" I answered into my cell and on the other end there was a moment of silence.

"You sound a bit shaken."

"What do you want Eric?" Of course Eric would call me, as if I could go a solid week without having to deal with his problems. Defeated I sat down on the couch and placed the phone comfortably on my ear.

"I had a very interesting conversation last week at Fangtasia."

"I don't see how this is relevant to me, especially after a week."

"A vampire in my area claims that you told him that you were mine when he tried to drink from you."

"Well, seeing as he didn't even ask if I was a willing donor or not he didn't even have the right to try. You guys are out in the open now; you can't go around preying people off the streets." I bit out, becoming frustrated with him as I always did whenever we talked for more than ten seconds. From the peripheral vision Jean came to view, jumping on the arm of the sofa and settling in to eavesdrop on my conversation, as if she could understand what I was saying.

"This is all beside the point." His stern voice interrupted and from his tone I decided to quiet myself. "I've bought you something for all your troubles and as a token of appreciation for accepting that you are mine." My mouth gapped open once he finished. I should have known that using that trick to escape would get me into enough trouble later that I would regret it.

"I…"

Knock. A single, loud knock. Eric was the only person who only knocked once. Should he have decided to visit without my approval once more I would have to explain what it meant to be courteous and call first. "Who is it?" I yelled angrily at the door and drudged over to it.

"It's Eric Northman."

Go figure. I could hear his voice through the door and through the phone so I ended the call and threw my cell on the couch before opening the door for him. He waited patiently outside for me to invite him in which I thought was strange, seeing as I had already invited him in before so I thought he could just come in freely now.

"Are you going to invite me in?"

"Can't you come in anyways?"

"I can, but I am simply being polite." He answered, walking in and turning to face me. I rolled my eyes at him and shut the door. In his hands was a small red box, and noticing I got a little nervous. Why exactly would he get me a gift, to apologize for something? Perhaps he was trying to warm me up.

"Why aren't you at Fangtasia?"

"The vampires of my area have set hours in which they must come in; their presence is good for business. For some reason humans find it a good way of living on the wild side, being in a bar where vampires frequent. I am not necessary all the time. And beyond that, I had a little business to attend to in Dallas for the last few days and before I returned to Shreveport I wanted to come see you." Sure it sounded very sweet and sexy that he was in the area and wanted to check on me but I was beyond that simple a seduction.

"Well, it was very nice of you to come by." I retorted, nervously playing with my fingers and waiting for something to happen that would move this unexpected visit in a more meaningful direction. Silently he handed me his boxed present, one of his brows arched as he waited to see whether or not I would accept. I wasn't particularly fond of being spoiled or won over with material goods by a man, but neither was I a person who would be rude and not take a seemingly thoughtful gift. "I suppose…" I mumbled softly, grabbing the box and inspecting it before I opened the lid. Inside was a lovely necklace, white gold I assumed, with a small pendant, a black stone surrounded by white gold in the shape of a drop. This most have cost a pretty penny. "Oh wow." I breathed, taking the necklace up and eyeing it with admiration. It surely was beautiful.

"Allow me." He offered, taking the necklace and putting it on me while I held my hair. His hands felt as cool as the chain did on my skin and gooseflesh washed over my cheeks, making me suppress a shiver. After the necklace was fastened I released my hair and turned to him, looking up to him with thanks present in my eyes. "It looks great on you."

"Thank you so much."

"It's my pleasure."

"I've been looking up stuff on clinical vampirism." I decided to liven up the conversation lest we both get bored of each other's near silence. "The symptoms make sense but I don't think I'm to the point of the more speculated cases. These serial killers that people think were afflicted with it are so…"

"Grotesque?"

"For lack of a better word, yeah." I sighed and ran my hands through my hair. "But what's to say I won't get that bad at some point, you know, that I won't go around killing people like they did, or like y'all do?"

"What you might have done is affecting you a lot. You can't seem to move past the possibility of murdering a stranger. But at the same time there's a part of you that is interested in the prospect of it. You are at a crossroad." Eric loved to speak the obvious, either that or reiterate things in a way that was so upfront they made you think about them more than you already were. "Have you ever seen death?"

When he asked I reeled back, it's not that the question was inappropriate or way out of left field, but for some reason or another it struck me in an odd way, perhaps because I wasn't quite sure of my answer. "I have seen the result of death. I have seen its aftermath, but as for seeing it firsthand I can't say that I have." My reply came out a lot smoother than I anticipated.

"A family member died?"

"No, my husband." I snapped back with a blatant anger. Eric raised a brow and then returned to his usual thoughtful expression. I rolled my eyes at him once more and went to sit down on the couch but he grabbed my arm to stop me before I could make it all the way there.

"You were once married? Was it the Mason you once mentioned?"

"Yes, his name was Mason and he was my husband. He was killed in Iraq two and a half years ago. I used to have his flag hung up on the wall but I couldn't stand to look at it." There was a very dense moment after I told him about the late Mason and for that I was thankful. Had he made a snappy remark I would have slapped him clear across the face. "But that was a long time ago. And I've moved past it."

"Most people these days wait a long time before they get married."

"Yeah, well, when you actually love someone, and accept that you do there's no need to wait ten years to make it official. Plus, his being in the Army helped move the wedding along." I explained bleakly, playing with the pendant on my new necklace with a very absent expression on my face. 

"Had you ever tasted him?" He asked and I furrowed my brow at him. We may have had sexual relations and talked a little but that seemed a little on the inappropriate side.

"I don't see how that's relevant."

"You know that you wanted to taste him, should your cravings and desires be anything like ours you wanted it. And if you loved him like you say you did that desire would have been more intense."

"All right, I admit that I did want to a lot but he never offered it. The prospect of me taking his blood freaked him out. I never got the pleasure of doing it."

"Have you ever taken blood from someone you loved?"

"No, I haven't. I've taken it from past boyfriends, but I didn't love them. I've taken it from a sparse number of friends when I was a teenager. But from a meaningful donor I haven't."

"I'm very interested in seeing what seeing blood does to you. Get dressed."

"What?"

"Get dressed." He reiterated and I struggled with getting my body moving, I couldn't seem to understand what he was planning and where we were going. I could tell though, beyond a doubt that once his plans revealed themselves I wouldn't be happy. But in the spirit of the moment and because I didn't have to be at work till Monday I went along with it and got dressed. Finding something suitable to wear was difficult when I didn't know where I was going and painful to admit I wanted to wear something appealing to Eric. It's healthy to want to look sexy every once in a while. My monthly gift had gone and past two days prior, I was fortunate enough to have short visits, and I felt liberated and ready for anything, or almost anything. Ten minutes later I emerged from my room to find Eric sitting nonchalantly on the couch, Jean a safe distance away but close enough that she could scope him out and stare at him endlessly.

"Your cat is very curious."

"She gets it from me."

"It's very unattractive to treat your pet like your child."

"I don't. She's like my best friend, always there when I need her and she loves me unconditionally, that's what I love about domesticated animals. They're incredibly loyal. They know who their master is and they stay by their side." I explained, slipping on a very thin, almost see-through cotton sweatshirt.

"Animals aren't the only ones who know what loyalty is."

"Well, they're one of few. I may be human but I see a lot of flaws in our kind. Not that I'm boasting that vampires are perfect either. We all have our flaws. In my opinion humans, I included in some respects though I try to transcend the clichés of humanity, are self-centered to the point it's sickening, we are incredibly materialistic about the stupid things; who cares what kind of car you drive or how big your three story house is. I like to think of it as trying to impress a blind person of all the cool shit you have. It's pointless. Objects are as fragile as we are; they break, whither, rust and burn. Actions, memories, knowledge, those are things worth something more than worldly possessions ever could hope to be. Relationships with people that are strong, passionate, intense and withstanding are important to me. Using money to make memories available, not using it to buy a flat screen television, that's important. Feeling a wide spectrum of emotions, even the bad ones, and the good ones and knowing that those feelings are genuine because you feel them, for whatever your reasons are. But they're real and they are there. You cannot fake your own feelings. You can choose to not portray them or maybe to portray them differently but inside you have no choice but to feel them.

"Perhaps I'm rambling but that's my opinion. I don't want to be held back by what society rules is important. I am sincere in what I feel and what I think and no person can take that away from me. You wonder why I object so much to you glamouring me, well, that explains that too. I am not weak and I will not allow myself to be vulnerable enough that you can manipulate how I think and feel and what I believe."

"Interesting. You know you really talk too much."

"Oh fuck you."

"Another time, let's go."


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry if this chapter is a little dry on Joce's personality, I haven't written in about a year and I'm trying to get back into the swing of things. Next chapter's a lot better, promise. Enjoy and review.**

From where we were seated on the second story balcony we could see the dance floor of The Church below us, dozens of bodies grinding and winding with the melody. All around us speakers blared gothic industrial music, mostly songs I'd never heard before. Eric was seated comfortably across from me at our small table, watching below with only a hint of interest. To my left and right the balcony railing was lined with identical tables, just big enough for two seats a piece. For the most part we were alone up there; towards the entrance was a couple doing exactly as we were, just watching. The Church had gothic décor, of course, and was packed with mostly rave kids, emos, and people of the gothic variety. "Why here?" My voice broke a silence that had been lasting roughly ten minutes.

"This…place is very vampire friendly. Finding a willing donor will be much easier for us here." Eric calmly replied, watching a blond haired young woman dance on the pole. I reeled back at his honesty and couldn't repress my confusion. My mouth opened to give my rebuttal but I struggled with what words to choose and how to say them.

"Uhm, willing donor? You don't really think I'm going to drink the blood of one of…those people?" I snapped back, looking Eric straight in the face and corking a brow at him. As soon as he felt my eyes on him he turned to face me in return and grinned playfully. His actions made me even wearier than I already was. He really couldn't expect me to do that, that would be stupid and irresponsible on my part seeing as I didn't know what kind of diseases these people had. Plus, no one here looked particularly appetizing either, I wasn't really into the hardcore Goths. "You can't be serious."

"I am quite serious Ms. DeLon. I told you I wanted to see what blood did to you and I fully expect to find out."

"No way." I bit out sharply, ripping my eyes off of him in annoyance. "I could get Aids." I added, grabbing up my beer and taking a long swig of it. "There's no way I'm drinking one of these people." I may have a lust for blood and I may have acted on it in the past but never have I actually gone out and hunted down a victim to drink from. Placing the beer down I spared one last glance at Eric. "I'm going to go dance. Enjoy the view."

As I walked down the stairs and made my way to the main dance floor I felt out of place. I wasn't dressed for this sort of club, and when I thought about it I'd never been to a Goth club before either. Making my way through a throng of people I sensed that there were a few vampires present, maybe four or five, but at a place like this it seemed natural for some fangers to be present. Once I made it to the dance floor I debated where to set up camp. There were three levels to the dance floor. The first was larger but a little more packed, the second was smaller and sparse with dancers, and the third was tiny with a single person, a raven haired rave girl dancing her heart out. Decided, I made my way to the second level and found a good spot near the disc jockey booth.

Once I became comfortable I began my dance, nothing fancy, just a little swaying and twisting. I felt awkward at first seeing as I wasn't used to the venue but with time the feeling digressed and I was as at home as I would be at perhaps Fangtasia. Song after song I continued, sweat dripping from my forehead and my body growing more and more tired. Usually I had more stamina but the amount of bodies in the room was making me overheat a lot faster than normal. Exhausted I made my way off the dance floor and began to walk back to the stairs to reunite with Eric on the second floor. Just before I hit the first stair a young man lightly grabbed my arm to get my attention and I stopped and turned to him.

"I don't mean to be rude but I just wanted to tell you that you're really beautiful." He whispered in my ear since the music was too loud to say it normally. I felt myself blush as I looked to the floor. He was a mildly handsome guy; from what he was wearing he looked more hipster than goth and had a very thin frame. With how dark the place was I couldn't make out much of his facial features but he had light eyes and scruffy dark hair.

"That's very sweet, thank you." I loudly whispered back, placing my hand on his shoulder when I leaned in. No matter how many times a girl gets a compliment if it's genuine it always makes you feel all giddy inside. I pulled back and gave him my direct attention, smiling and shrugging up my shoulders a little, waiting for his next move; somehow in the heat of the moment it slipped my mind that I was there with another man.

"No problem, I just couldn't help myself from telling you." He replied back, almost yelling over the speakers. I smiled a little wider at this and could feel my cheeks flush. "Mind if I buy you a drink?" He offered and then at that moment I remembered the thousand year old vampire waiting for me upstairs.

"I don't know, Eric is waiting for me on the balcony."

"I'm so sorry; I didn't know you had a boyfriend. I'll just leave you be, have a good night." He shyly ended and turned to walk away. Seeing this my heart sunk in my chest; he wasn't as drop dead gorgeous as Eric was but he had a boyish charm and his flannel shirt was adorable on him. Gaining some confidence I reached out and grabbed his shoulder before he could leave my reach.

"Wait!" I shouted, stepping over to him quickly. "He's not my boyfriend; he's just a friend of mine." I amended, which in all truth was not a lie. I had told Eric more than a few times now that I wasn't his and of course we never agreed in any capacity that we were dating. "I'd love for you to buy me a drink." I said smiling, grabbing up his arm and walking with him over to the bar. There was a crowd of bodies surrounding the bar counters so as we pushed our way through them and waited to be served I made small talk with the hipster stranger. "What's your name?" I yelled as a couple wiggled their way away from the bar next to us.

"David. And yours?"

"Her name is Joceline." Eric's voice boomed from behind my new friend and I gasped. This was a bad situation waiting to happen. David turned around and seemed intimated as he looked up at Eric. Quickly I wove my arm out of his and used my hands to cover my face in embarrassment. In my head I pleaded that Eric not get jealous and hurt the poor guy. David looked almost horrified as he stood there, as if he expected the 'friend' of mine not to be six feet four and as solid as a brick wall. Worried I took my body and wedged it between the two men.

"Hey Eric, you didn't have to come check on me, David here was just buying me a drink." I said innocently while giving him a very stern look, as if to say, "Don't start shit." Eric looked down at me with silent jealously and I swallowed hard. "You can go back up to the balcony; we'll meet you up there in a second." I added, the frustration evident in my voice. David looked to me and I spared him a quick smile in apology. I looked back to Eric and gave him a pleading look which he took seriously, thank God. Defeated for the moment the vampire turned around and made his way back to the stairs. That went a lot smoother than I had expected it to. "I'm so sorry about that. Eric can get a little jealous."

"I thought you said he wasn't your boyfriend."

"He isn't, we just have sex from time to time." I replied laughing and grabbed his arm up, turning him back towards the bar. After another two minutes both David and I had a fresh drink and were making out way up the large curved staircase to meet up with my counterpart. I could tell by his body posture he was on edge and I had to admit, I felt sorry for him. How could he compare with Eric, right? But to give him credit, I did take his advance and let him buy me a drink so he had to have a little self confidence at this point.

Once we made it back to Eric I took my old seat back and David pulled up a chair next to me and in between the two of us. Eric didn't seem to like this much but was letting it slide, and for that I was thankful. "So, you enjoy the view up here?" I joked, trying to ease the silent tension between the two men next to me. It felt like at any moment Eric was going to tear David's throat open. Suddenly I realized that I had picked out a victim without thinking about it. Not only had I picked him out but I had hand delivered him to Eric. I mentally face-palmed. Just as I was having my revelation I noticed Eric snag David's gaze and then it seemed like all hope was lost.

"Do you have any transmittable diseases David?" Eric's smooth voiced questioned the obviously now glamoured David. I felt myself let out a whine. This just couldn't be happening.

"Eric!" I snapped angrily but he ignored me and kept his eyes strictly on his newly acquired dinner. "Eric!" I repeated, leaning over the table and staring daggers at him. Again I was ignored and I cursed under my breath. I didn't know what to do in this situation, should I try to distract Eric or David? Would it even work?

"No, I don't." David's lifeless voice replied, his face void of any kind of emotion and his eyes blank. I hated how powerless I felt against this, I was a mere human. Desperate to do something I grabbed David's shoulder and gave it a forceful shake to break his attention but it didn't work.

"And have you gotten tested recently?" Eric continued with his interrogation. Quickly I stood up and went over to Eric, grabbing his arm and pulling it hard. Of course, seeing as he was far stronger than I could ever hope to be he didn't budge.

"I haven't had sex in six months and I last got tested five months ago."

I cringed at the poor boy's honesty and was starting to get hectic. I had to do something to stop this from happening. Frantic I looked around from side to side but there wasn't anyone else around, the balcony was empty. "Fuck!" I spat out the curse and turned my attention back to the men in front of me. "I don't want to do this Eric, stop it!" I yelled loudly, though with the music it wasn't as audible as I hoped it would be. Within the next moment my arm was in Eric's grip though his eyes were still caged with his victim. I tried to wrench out of it but it wasn't going to happen. I was stuck.

"David, we are going to drink from you now. Don't worry, it won't hurt. You're not going to resist us, understood?"

"I won't resist you." David softly replied back, ready to obey his every command.

"Eric no!"

But it was too late, in a split second Eric's fangs were embedded into the side of David's neck, drawing out his blood. I let out another whine and quickly looked away from the scene unfolding. As long as I didn't look at the blood I'd be alright. I closed my eyes tightly and pulled myself as far away from the two as I could manage. Why was it that at this point in time no one wanted to come up to the balcony? I could always scream for help but who knew what would happen as a result of it. Eric could easily kill David, myself and any other person who came up here to help us. I didn't want to endanger anyone's life.

Eric yanked me into him and I stumbled, nearly falling into David as I did. "Drink." He ordered sternly and I continued to look away. "Look at him Joceline, drink it." He growled, and I winced and turned my head away. I could feel my mouth begin to water at the prospect of it but I had to resist it. I couldn't harm David; he was just some innocent guy at a club. He didn't deserve this. I felt my chin being snatched up and forced in the direction of our unwilling and glamoured donor. "Drink!"

I was starting to lose my reserve and with the way Eric was persisting I was horrified, I'd never seen him like this before. Who knew what he was capable of and willing to do. As hard as I was struggling I still couldn't manage to keep my eyes closed and suddenly I found myself in point blank range of a river of fresh blood oozing out of David's neck. Shocked I gasped and tried to pull myself away from it but Eric held me in place. "No." I hesitantly resisted but the rebellion in my voice held no conviction. "I can't…"

"Look at the blood Joceline, you know you want it."

I couldn't rip my eyes away from the blood, and I found that I did indeed want it. I felt my bottom lip quiver in the anticipation but I wasn't going to give in. I didn't want this. "I…" Words escaped me and I was left helpless staring at the thick crimson trailing down David's neck. My breath starting to quicken and I found myself inching closer to it. My mouth started to water even more the closer I got and my jaw hung open slightly, welcoming the blood in. My mind went blank and all I could comprehend in that moment was drinking. Taking it into me and reviving me, feeling that warm liquid slide down my throat and quenching my malicious thirst. I wanted it more than anything at this point. All my energy to resist was gone, all that remained was a deep hunger. As I closed the gap between our two bodies the taste of it was already washing over my senses before I even leaned in to drink. My body anticipated it; I missed the taste, the feeling. I needed this. I didn't know why but I needed this more than I needed air to breath. Slowly I took my tongue and traced it along the red line leading up to the bite mark. As soon as I felt the first drop of blood, and tasted that wonderful nectar I was lost in it.

I attached myself to him at the bite mark, taking my lips and surrounding the two puncture wounds. I didn't suck hard at the area but let the blood slowly pour into my mouth, causing me to moan out and close my eyes. Oh, how I had missed this feeling. I was completely invigorated. Suddenly I felt Eric lift me off of David and pull my body into his chest. "That's enough Joceline, as a human you can't drink that much blood." He whispered into my ear and I whipped my head away from him. Despite what he was saying and the fact that in my mind I knew it to be true I still wanted more.

"No, I want it." I whispered back, eyes still on my victim. How could I stop now and let all that blood go to waste? I needed it, I craved it so much. "I want more." I hissed as I attempted to pull myself away from him. He didn't let me get away and continued to hold me tight against his body. I began to yank away from him, pushing my elbows into his chest to separate us. My energy channeled into my core as I got more and more worked up, quickly working its way throughout my body and then pushing into Eric. He wavered slightly and I used the opportunity to wrench out of his arms and back towards David. Just before I placed my lips back onto his neck Eric grabbed me up again and swung me into the seat to my right. He instantly moved in front of me and trapped me in the tall chair so I couldn't escape him.

"Is this what you become?" He said softly, studying me with much interest. I returned his gaze with a twitching eye and blatant anger. I didn't move while I sat there, I simply looked up at him with intense silence and frustration. He moved his face closer to mine so that we were only inches apart as I gritted my teeth and felt my lips quiver in a snarl. I wanted that blood, whether it was safe to drink it or not. With all the strength I could muster I suddenly grabbed him and tackled him to the ground at our side, only able to manage it seeing as Eric wasn't expecting me to be so brash. Instantly he flipped me over and had me pinned to the ground. "What are you?"

As I lied on the floor panting I began to come to my senses and looked up at Eric terrified. "Let me go." I whispered. All of a sudden I felt disgusting; I had to get away from here. "I said let me go Eric, I'm done." I demanded, struggling against him. Eric looked skeptical, which I understood but I wanted more than anything to get away from him, the blood and this place. How could this happen, why did I let it come to this? "I said I'm fucking done Eric, let me go!" I snapped, turning my head away from his face. Hesitantly he pulled himself off me and I made my way to my feet. "I'm fucking done." I sneered as I walked to the stairs and out into the street, wiping my mouth clean on my shirt sleeve.


	11. Chapter 11

I was outside a mere five minutes before Eric confidently strode out the door to the club to meet up with me. Of course his face was clean and there wasn't a smidge of evidence anywhere on his person. I, on the other hand had smeared blood on my chin and cheek, though barely noticeable. To keep people from becoming suspicious I kept a hand cupping the bottom of my face as if I was waiting impatiently for someone as I leaned against the wall. To be fair, I was in fact waiting impatiently on someone so I had the emotions to pull it off.

"Is David alright?" I snapped, turning to face him directly. Eric laughed and walked up to me with his usual air of superiority. I pushed myself off the wall and crossed my arms over my chest unhappily. He may be used to killing and drinking people like it wasn't a big deal but I was still human, despite how monstrous I felt after what I had just done. I put myself and a stranger in harm's way with my impulsive behavior without so much as a second thought. I could only resist the urge for a few moments before it was too much. I could've sworn I had more reserve than that.

"Your lover boy is just fine; he'll live to see another day."

"Oh don't get all jealous Eric." I huffed, inching up to his tall body and playfully punching him softly in the torso, which was like hitting a rock. Sometimes he felt too perfect to be true. At least in the physical department, his emotions tended to be an apathetic mess. I was upset with him yes, I hadn't forgotten, but he was my ride home so I had to play nice till I was at least in my apartment complex. Though, for the most part I was madder at myself than I was mad at him. "He's just a blood bag to us, right?" I added in sarcastically and he slouched down closer to me.

"You don't have to act like a smartass every time you get uncomfortable." He whispered loudly and I strayed my gaze away from him. Sarcasm is like a safety blanket for me every time I get into an odd place, but the fact that Eric had picked up on it this early was an astute observation. That or being around him put me in enough bad situations I should be more careful. "I take it you want to go home." He observed and I gave him a shake of the head and a roll of the eyes. He just thinks he's king of the world doesn't he; you can just hear it in his voice.

"Actually I was thinking we could go on a road trip and leave a bloody trail of bodies behind us. Go Bonnie and Clyde on America but with fangs."

"There you go again." He bit out and I laughed. I'm a sarcastic person; he was just going to have to deal with that if he wanted to spend time with me. Quietly we walked to the valet next to the building, as we approached Eric fished out his ticket and handed it to a hefty man standing behind the wooden valet booth. "Mmm, you're rather silent. Is there something wrong with my Joceline?" He joked, eyeing his overly flashy red corvette as it drove up next to us, all the while handing the man some money and insisting he keep the change.

"I really hate that you call me that."

"And why is that?" He asked while politely opening the passenger door for me to slide in. In thanks I gave him a small bow and took my seat in the first car I was slightly embarrassed to be seen it. Fire engine red caught enough attention on any car that color, add Corvette and you're just basically yelling at people to look at you. It was way too over the top for my taste.

I rubbed my eyes at the utter stupidity of the question. I could have sworn I already explained this at least three times before. "Because, as I have clearly stated to you before, I am not yours. And also, how would you like it if I went gallivanting about town calling you my Eric and saying that you were mine?"

"It doesn't work that way." He answered as we pulled out of the small parking lot and began maneuvering our way out of downtown Dallas. "The possessiveness is more of a vampire thing." He elaborated and I huffed. Was that so? If I was a vampire I wouldn't be so pissy about a human I fed on unless I had every intention of being exclusive with that person.

"So let me get this right; you want to 'own' me," I stressed the word long enough to drive the point home before I continued. "And not allow me to be with any other man or vampire while you get to run around free of any restraint and fuck or drink anything pretty that crosses your eye." I ran a hand through my hair and gave him a side glance. "Yeah, I think I'll pass. And despite what you say I highly doubt the decision for me to be yours is just a one sided thing. I'm pretty sure I have to at least agree to it. You're just trying to take advantage of the fact I don't much about your vampire ways." I declared with a confidence that was new in Eric's presence. Usually I was enticed by him yes, but still a little frightened and scared of rubbing him the wrong way.

"Does the blood get you cheeky as well; you're talking big for a human." He caught on to it as soon as I did, oh great. I blushed at this and looked out the window at some random point on the far night horizon. "But tell you what, you allow yourself to be mine and I'll let you call me your Eric."

"You'd do that for me. How could I say no to that?" I started deviously. "Oh right, by just saying no."

"You're taking advantage of the fact that I'm driving, aren't you?" I shrugged. I was a little bit. I made a mental note to tone it down so I didn't piss him off. There was a few minutes of passing silence after that last one, I took the time to think over my actions and what it felt like to be put in that situation by a vampire. But luckily I knew that it wasn't as easy for me to take blood as it was for them. I wasn't completely damned yet. "How did it make you feel?" He asked, as if by some shape or form he could tell I was thinking about it.

"It was amazing to be honest, but also terrifying. At first I didn't want it because of the circumstance, but I couldn't help myself, I just went for it. It was like there was something pulling me into it. Aside from you basically holding me to him of course." I had to get in a quip if the opportunity displayed itself; it was a part of my nature. "It tasted amazing; it was hot and sweet, just like I knew it would be, just like I wanted it to be." The more I talked the less I liked what I said. From the driver seat Eric simply listened, from time to time something I would say related to him or something close because he'd nod in a mute understanding. "I didn't quite feel like myself though, I felt like my actions were predetermined or I was a puppet being pulled by someone else's will and not my own. But it doesn't matter about how the action of doing it felt, inside me; in my core I needed it at that point. I had no choice. I saw it then I tasted it and that was all there was for me. The need and the want. Nothing else mattered really till I snapped out of it. I mean I was crazy enough to try and tackle you right, that says something. Normally I don't think I'd be that stupid, you can easily snap me like a twig."

"I may have tasted other people's blood before but never like that. I've never experienced that before. And as much as I know you probably are going to say something about how great it is or whatever let me just say that whether I liked it or not I won't be doing that again, trust me." My voice was as sure as I could make it, hopefully he'd take the hint. I didn't want this to become a routine weekend activity for me. One, because it was reckless and dangerous; two, because it was unhealthy; and three, well because it was positively and utterly ungodly. Who knew what tomorrow would feel like for me, I could get sicker than a dog as a result of drinking from him. But to be honest I had woken up covered in blood and with its taste on my tongue and there weren't any traces of me getting sick in the house. Who knew about elsewhere though. After tonight I felt like I just made it concrete that I had earned a first class ticket to the fiery pits of hell.

"A human vampire, that's what you are." Eric joked as he let out a short laugh. I didn't like the idea but it was a funny concept. In agreement of the humor I allowed myself to giggle at his statement. "What made you come back to your senses?" This question didn't have a single hint of humor in it. I pondered hard for a second before I concocted my reply.

"I don't know really, maybe the situation. Usually I'm affected by it longer, as you've seen in the past I'm guessing. Sex doesn't always follow though. Sometimes I just need a drink. But I'd have to say the circumstances snapped me out of it. You had me pinned to the ground and we were in public. Maybe that helped me come back to reality." Eric nodded at my reply. In my head I was giving thanks that I didn't severely harm David, or at least I didn't think I harmed him. He was alive, that much was true and hopefully Eric glamoured him into forgetting his encounter with the mysterious Eric and Joceline ever happened. "I pray that I don't have any bad cravings as a result of this." I whispered though I knew that even with my hushed tone the words would fall on Eric's ears. What was going to result because of this, what did this encounter change in me? Nothing, I hope. I wanted to return to the life of being regular 'ole Joceline DeLon from Arlington. A relatively normal human being and leasing agent in the Dallas Forth Worth metroplex.

I let the rest of the ride pass in silence, occasionally I'd look over at Eric as he drove, his eyes strictly on the road. He was driving a lot safer tonight, having learned previously in Shreveport the way I disagree with his more daring driving skills. Once we pulled into my apartment complex I let out a long sigh of relief. I was spent for the night; all I wanted to do was lie in my comfortable bed and fall asleep cuddling my furry companion. After Eric escorted me to my front door there was a lingering pause as I unlocked my door. "Tell you what; you'll be my only vampire gentleman caller. Deal?" I said as I turned to say goodnight. Little did he know I had no intention of meeting another vampire till the day I died. They were nothing but trouble.

"Gentleman caller? So you're warming up to me?"

"Don't get too excited. I said vampire, not male in general. If you can sample female tastes it's only fair I get to sample male tastes just the same."

"Alright then Ms. DeLon, I accept your offer. Goodnight my delicious Joceline."

"Goodnight my…my…." I paused and looked up at him. "What can I call you?" He laughed loudly at this and grabbed my chin up as he leaned down to my face. I felt myself begin to blush when he did this and looked down for a brief moment before returning my gaze to him.

"Tell you what; just call me your Viking." He insisted, intense blue eyes catching mine. For once I wasn't trying to look away from his gaze in fear of being glamoured. It was as if hunting together, if it could be called such, created a certain bond between us. Not a romantic bond though; there was no trace of romance in what we did that night. It was more of a mutual respect. Eric didn't see me as an equal this I knew obviously and I also knew I wasn't as high up there as a vampire would be to him. Yet he did however hold me a small amount higher than say that last girl he tasted at the club, or some unfortunate soul he drained and killed centuries ago without a second thought. It wasn't a high honor but it was something I had longed for since I realized I'd never live a normal life with people who thought I was some sort of freak. There was at least one person in the world who embraced the side of me I insisted on never showing. And not only did he embrace it, he sought it out in the first place when I tried to keep it hidden. I may not know what his ulterior motives were, or why he chose me to occupy the free time he had in between running a bar in Shreveport and being a vampire sheriff, but till they surfaced I was willing to give this a chance. Whatever this was.

"Viking?" I reiterated, smiling at the image that came to my brain. He did seem right at home in the visuals I created. I caught myself thinking a little too hard about it when the real thing was standing less than a foot in front of me. "Wait, before you go answer me this." I said, grabbing a hold of his arm softly as if to keep him from leaving. Not that my puny hold could stop him, and he didn't look like he was exactly rushing to leave either. "Why delicious?"

"Your blood is actually quite nice; delicious to say the least. Secondly, as delicious as your blood may be your body is just as delectable." I most definitely blushed at this; I probably blushed more at that moment than I'd even done before. "And of course, the new things I learn about you every time we meet are nice food for thought." He explained, his voice low when he spoke, making my body feel heated. "And then, your lips…" And he met those lips in a kiss I couldn't even begin to compare to any other kiss. Taken off guard we almost fell through my unlocked door seeing as at some point I had turned the handle enough that it was slightly ajar. Thankfully my strong Viking caught us and we shuffled inside in a mess of limps, frantically griping each other's body. Skillfully he managed to slam the door shut behind us, disabling Jean from running off.

"Wait…" I gasped, pulling my lips away from his for breath and pushing his chest away. I couldn't keep sleeping with him like this; I wasn't going to be an item. "I won't be another girl helpless against you…" I tried to explain but Eric didn't leave me much time to argue as he took me against him and lied me down on the carpet below us. "Eric…" I struggled, rolling my head back when he took the skin at my neck and nipped it between his teeth. His hands were somewhere on me, caressing me roughly but I couldn't concentrate enough to locate them. My mind clouded with every single second that passed. I couldn't resist him, he seemed to awaken me in a way I'd missed so much.

We rolled on the ground till I landed atop him, straddling his strong sides between my thighs to keep me steady. Suddenly I could find his hands, large and powerful trailing up my sides till they encircled my neck. His hands, they lit me afire on every inch of skin they touched. How could this man take this feeling that was supposed to warn me of him, to send me away and make it pull me closer towards him? Guiding his fingers back down they took the bottom of my shirt and lifted it slowly off my sweating frame, tossing it to the side. I worked on his button up shirt with shaky hands, unable to focus on each button, envisioning the body beneath it. Enveloping my hands he took them and aided me and ripping those pesky buttons right off the shirt, exciting my view with his anciently carved muscles. As I lowered myself to meet his chest he lifted himself and we collided skin, causing me to gasp. I wasn't drunk on blood or alcohol and that sobriety caused my sixth sense to feel every part of him on me. It was all so much I could barely breathe.

"Eric…" I moaned as I pulled myself apart from him, hastily he grabbed my bra straps and I heard as he easily ripped that bra clean off. Was it an expensive bra, did I mind? God no. I fell back into him and we hit the floor hard, my hands catching my fall so I hovered over him, my eyes caged on his. For the first time I felt the pressure and energy build in my core for a completely different reason. Unlike usual it was a slow building, if it was visible I'd be able to trace it as it ran under my skin. When it reached the limits of my fingers and toes it slowly expelled from my body and unlike the times before it didn't push Eric away or harm him, the energy absorbed into him and I heard him moan. Enticed by the feeling he grabbed me by my hips and lifted himself till he was standing and I was wrapped securely around him by my legs. All the while our lips were playing against each other, as we marveled in the taste.

When I reached the wall at my back I couldn't say I noticed, I couldn't concentrate on more than one thing at a time and the wall was definitely not that one thing. At the moment it was the way he was grasping and massaging my thighs. Seconds would pass and I found his fingers in a new location, now on the inside of my thighs working their way up and causing all the blood in my body to boil with anticipation. "Bedroom…" I whispered as I took some of his hair and pulled it so he would look up at me. "Bedroom, now." I ordered and he gave me a cheeky smile. In the time it took me to breath in and out we were already on top of my comforter, the same comforter he ruined before and I had tried diligently to fix but of course, couldn't save completely. Pink spots littered the soft fabric and as I was lying across it Eric noticed.

"Our fault?" He laughed, causing me to look side to side and spare a laugh with him.

"That, and a hypothetical murder." I corrected, grabbing his neck to pull him in closer. "But it's alright." I said into his ear, releasing his neck to trace my fingers down his chest. How is it even possible that a man like this was in a bed with me right now. How was I so lucky? Maybe I wasn't lucky, maybe I was extremely unlucky. He's been with more woman than I could imagine, and most of those woman were now dead either because of him, or because they existed hundreds of years ago. I suddenly froze. Eric spared me a quizzical look and I shook my head and smiled weakly. "It's fine, it's fine." I breathed, relaxing my body enough so that I was completely on the bed and he was above the length of me, studying my expression. What was wrong, why did I have to think about something like that right now, when I could be having the best sex of my life. Why now?

"I can't do this right now Eric, I'm sorry." I said, ducking under him and then rolling to the edge of the bed. As I sat up I looked over to him and he didn't seem too happy with my decision. "I'm really sorry, I just can't right now." I repeated and he sighed and sat next to me on the bed for a moment.

"Did I do something to you that you didn't like?"

"That's not it at all, don't worry about it. It's nothing really." I insisted, looking away from him and to the floor in front of me. Of course he didn't believe it but he didn't push me to uncover my reason and moved to stand up, I watched him exit the room silently and sighed, falling back onto the bed. This was just terrible. Two minutes later and he left the apartment, closing the door almost silently behind him. I groaned as Jean jumped onto the bed next to me. Rolling I grabbed her up and pulled her against my body. "I'm such a fucking idiot…"


	12. Chapter 12

Ten minutes later there was a knock at the front door and I groaned against the fabric of my pillow. After Eric left I hadn't really moved from my spot on the bed, though Jean had made enough of a fuss that I let her go. "Who is it?" I yelled out tiredly, only to get no reply. Exhausted I didn't bother with it but after another ten seconds of silence the knocking commenced once again, this time louder. "I said who is it?" I yelled angrily and again there was no reply. "I swear to God I'll kill 'em." I snapped under my breath, using my hands as anchors while I pushed my torso off the bed and then followed with the rest of my body. Approaching the door I couldn't helped but be a little creeped out, usually when I asked who was knocking I got a reply. Especially if it was Eric or Jaemi. Thinking about it, they were really the only people who came to visit me at all. Reaching the door I looked through the peephole, only to see no one on the other side. "Guess they couldn't wait." I whispered, opening the door so I could take a look outside and see if they were still in sight. As I peeked my head out of the door frame there came a sudden burst of pain at the top of my head and my world went blind and deaf.

My consciousness began to return in a fuzzy haze as I lifted my eyelids, my head hung low and to the side. I couldn't tell much of what was going on but after a moment of trying to nurse my head I realized my hands and arms were bound behind me. The pressure was enough to tell it was something sturdy like rope or a sheet twisted tightly. I attempted to focus my eyesight, looking up as much as my injured head would allow me. Forcing my head to stay up began to hurt after only a few seconds and made it hard to inspect anything around me, as well as the fact that the room was dark. So in a quick movement I tossed my head back so that it could roll on my neck without using much effort. Next step was the feet, were they bound? I tried pulling my ankles apart and they remained still, then I tried the knees which were also immobile.

Rolling my head from side to side I took in as much information as I could. There were no windows in whatever kind of room I was in. I could however see a long sliver of light on the floor about forty five degrees left of the direction I was facing. Logically then, that would be a door. Alright then, next was to find out whether or not there were any other doors. I rolled my head in the opposite direction, still nothing, and with my position I couldn't see what was directly behind me without using up a lot of energy I didn't have nor want to sacrifice at this point. Smells? I couldn't focus enough to separate each one I noticed but I did smell oil, like the kind that drips from a car, and leaves a puddle in the garage. But who knew.

As seconds turned to minutes I began to come more to reality, my heart beating a mile a minute. I had no idea what was going on or even where I was for that matter. Obviously I was kidnapped, but who would do this to me? I had no enemies, except for that vampire who I insulted a few weeks prior. So if I had no known enemies what other situation could I possibly be in? My family was middle class, and I myself wasn't rich or valuable. Terrorists? Doubt it. Vampires? Could be. Wait, vampires...would someone do this to me because of Eric? Or was this his doing in the first place? I felt my jaw clench with repressed rage. Fucking vampires and their drama! I tensed; what if it wasn't vampires? I could be a victim of a murder or even a serial killer. Desperate I began to rock myself side to side in the wooden chair I was tied to. To and fro I rocked, with time able to get it to lean on two legs at a time. I had to get this chair separated from me in some way, but I couldn't tell what tools were at my disposal with the darkness.

Suddenly I smashed onto the ground; having been careful I kept myself from knocking my head when I hit what I now knew was concrete. Biting past the pain I rolled onto my chest and shoulders, using them as support while I turned my head to see what used to be behind me. No light what so ever was shining through the wall, however far back the wall was. As I began wiggling and writhing around in my restraints to loosen them I heard through the silence the shuffle of feet dragging on hard floors and fell silent. What do I do? Frightened I closed my eyes and let myself and the chair fall to the side without making too much noise. I'd pretend to be asleep, than I'd get to tell how the person or vampire would interact with me unconscious, thinking I wasn't awake to see it. Perhaps it would give me a hint of a motive or reason. Just as the door creaked open I relaxed my breathing and put on my best 'sleeping' face, trying to calm my heartbeat.

As I was approached it was incredibly difficult to keep my body from tensing with fear. What if he had a weapon? A gun perhaps, or a knife; I could die before I even knew who took me. I pondered it while the person or thing continued closer. If keeping me alive wasn't important then I'd be dead by now, so obviously I was being kept alive for something. The feet stopped about two feet away from my face and I tried to relax more unnoticed. Without a hint of warning one of those feet came down on my side and I screamed out while ripping my eyes open. "Good, you're awake." A monotone voice purred with sarcasm. I trailed my eyes up the length of the legs and then the torso up to the head but the lights were still off and it offered me no more information than what his voice told me, which was that it was a male.

"What do you want?"

"What do I want? Well, for starters, I want payback for when you attacked me."

"What?" I coughed between my next words, trying to sound strong. "I don't know what you're talking about!" I yelled back at him though intimidation was impossible for me to attempt at a time like this. "You're crazy!"

"You think I'm crazy! You bit me and scratched me! You drank my blood and you're not even a vampire! I'm not the crazy one you psycho bitch!" He snapped back and then all the puzzle pieces suddenly fell into place and I became deathly silent. "Do you remember now? I was downtown and you came up to me looking to score some v, you didn't look like a blood head but you said you needed some blood so I thought that's what you wanted. I was dealing and wasn't making any money that night so I gave you the benefit of the doubt, and you fucking attacked me right then and there." So that's what happened that night. I found some random drug dealer downtown and attacked him. Despite the situation I cursed myself for taking the blood of a drug dealer, who knew what he had, how disgusting.

"What are you going to do to me?" I struggled with the words, coming to grips with the fact I was dead and there was nothing I could do about it now. Forcefully he grabbed my shoulder and used only his grip on it to pull me and the chair I was attached to into an upright position. Alright, this guy was obviously strong, but he wasn't a vampire. I couldn't feel him over my skin like other vampires registered. He didn't look very muscular, though all I had to go on was the outline of his figure from the light shining in through the open door. He said he was a drug dealer, and that he had dealt v, so maybe he used v as well. It's not outrageous for a dealer to sample his own stuff, right? Wrapped up in my thoughts I snapped back to reality and my head snapped to the side when his firm hand danced across the side of my face. I swear I saw stars. My head snapped the other way and my cheeks started to burn when the second slap came. Why couldn't he have just called the cops, at least they don't torture people. Well, as far as I knew.

"Why'd you do it?" He yelled, landing a punch right on the left side of my jaw and I felt the taste of blood roll down my tongue like a wave. Oh Jesus. I'd never been tortured before, so I didn't take into effect the fact that I'd taste a lot of blood. My own of course, and not willing either. I silently wished Eric was here to save me. Would he even save me? We weren't that close, not yet anyways. Another punch. This one broke my nose, or it felt like it broke my nose. Blood began to trickle out of my nose and flow down to my upper lip. This punch upset me more than the one before it, sometimes you never fully healed from a broken nose. Sometimes your nose looked weird after having it broken. My nose was already small enough as it was it didn't need to be disfigured as well. I tensed, feeling energy manifest itself in the usual place. My jaw clenched and I concentrated as much as possible on that feeling inside me as it grew and spread. I had no idea what it would do to him but it was worth a try. If it made Eric reel back then it might do something more to him.

Just as it reached my wrists and my ankles he gave me a punch to the face so violent I feel backwards and my chair hit the ground with a loud smash. From the force of it I wobbled a little and I felt that the chair couldn't take much more damage before it broke. As he reached in to pull me up, by my neck of course, I pulled my chin towards my chest and grabbed his skin between my teeth. I was already feeling over confident from the taste of my own blood, having his might send me into enough of a spiral I could accomplish more. Though who knew if I'd even remember it. When I bit down on him he screamed a curse and retracted his arm causing me to take out of small chunk of his skin. Not the smartest move on his part; you should at least wait until your attacker loosens his bite on you before you yank away. Though I knew I had human skin on my lips I was surprisingly calm. Not happy though. Just in the moment. I spit it out to the side, still on my back. Instinctually I licked my lips clean of the blood. There was something different about it, his blood; it had a weird tinge to it. My eyes closed and I savored the taste for a moment. What was that taste? Once my world darkened, just for a split moment, he grabbed my neck once more and pulled me up. I opened my eyes to see him and his friend, a hunting knife. It was in the opposite hand that held me and it was quite sizeable. I tried to gulp back my fear, it didn't work. I jerked myself away from him with as much force and strength as I could muster and I fell back onto my back; though this time the chair shattered beneath me from the force I applied in my movements.

For a moment I was left in a mess on the ground, unable to gain my bearings after knocking my head on the concrete. I may have given myself a concussion. Coming to I could see the large hunting knife coming down on where my torso was and in a quick movement I rolled to the right. I didn't escape its wrath completely and I cried out when it came down on my left arm. It missed the bone but it did stab me all the way through to the other side; quickly he retracted his weapon and it slid out of my muscles. Letting out a few head-splitting screams I tried to recover from the shock of being stabbed but the pain was quite substantial. I kept rolling to my right hoping to get some space in between me and my attacker but once I got about three feet away I collided with something metal and large. Now that there was a little distance from me and the chair I was once attached to I was able to wiggle out of the restraints and get myself free. I could hear movement to my left as if he was himself recovering from something and then his feet shuffling to get him standing. Taking note I quickly moved to my feet and felt a strong wave of disorientation. I felt like I was fading, I'd have to either escape soon or die.

I refused to think about giving up on my life and so I bolted towards the door, almost tripping on something as I did. He intercepted me just before I could hit the door frame and his tackle sent us to the ground in a hurry. I screamed at the pain of landing hard on my right shoulder a second time. Desperate I began clawing at anything I could get my greedy little nails on, hoping to hurt him enough I could escape. I could hear him hiss at the pain from above me and after a few seconds I could feel his warm sticky blood getting on my hands. That's when I heard a loud thud outside of the room I was in; a room I was beginning to believe was a garage. In my distraction I felt the large hunting knife go into my gut and I screamed as loud as I had ever screamed in my life. My eyes began to water and my arms stopped in their assault on his arms and face. I fell back onto the concrete, trying to fully grasp the fact that I was dying. I was in such shock that I didn't even believe it was ending this soon. I was so young and I hadn't even gotten to start a family. Why now? It wasn't fair. Blood began to seep out of my wound and I gritted my teeth at the pain, my eyes tearing up.

In my pain the world around me started to phase out and all I could think about was how much it hurt and the shock of it all. I could feel it as his body lifted off of mine and then I could feel as my blood poured out of my body, but I was fading and that was all I could notice. "Fuck…" I breathed, my brows furrowed. With all the energy I could muster I flipped myself over onto my stomach which hurt in a way that left me breathless and began crawling away from the attacker, wherever he was now. I just needed to get out of the house, if it was indeed a house and outside so someone could spot me and call the police and an ambulance.

So it was a house, I found out as I drug myself through it, leaving a trail of blood behind me. Then I felt it, that weird tinge over my skin alerting me to the presence of a vampire close by. I tensed up; could a nearby vampire smell all the blood and is he coming to get some of it? My hope and strive was fading at an alarming rate. Then that's when I felt a gust of wind, which was strange and heard the scream of a man from behind me. Then something or rather someone lifted my body up and off the floor. I screamed out at the pain of being moved and focused my vision on who it was that picked me up. Eric Northman. I tried to smile but it didn't quite work out. "Did my Viking come to save me?" I whispered and then completely lost consciousness.


	13. Chapter 13

"Drink."

Eric's voice was stern yet soft as it seeped into my ears and I groaned. He repeated himself and I then felt him place something on my mouth, it was firm and seeping out some sort of liquid but with my weak state and the fact that I was on the brink of death I couldn't open my eyes to see what it was. His hand opened my mouth and a strong metallic substance started flowing in slowly down to my throat. Finding the strength I swallowed and suddenly felt strong enough to latch myself onto whatever it was and drink. As seconds passed I felt a strange energy from within, almost like having all your ailments healed and replenished beyond what's possible, giving me strength. Instinctually I reached up and grabbed what I found out was an arm and was finally able to open my eyes. Realizing what I was doing I quickly pulled away in shock. It was Eric's arm and I was drinking the blood that was coming out of an open wound.

"Fuck!" The expletive was all I could manage to muster up. "What? How the fuck...I was…am I alive?" I stumbled frantically for words to say. "Did I drink…your blood?" I spat out, backing away from him. As I began to slowly come back to life I realized I was back at home somehow and that Eric was sitting there on the floor with me in the living room. I backed up until I hit the entertainment center at my back, my eyes wide with the pure shock and confusion of my current situation. I looked down at my torso and the rip in my shirt where the blade had pierced me; there was blood there but there was no wound. In disbelief I raised up my shirt and rubbed my hands over the area that should have been wounded. Was it magic? How is that possible? How am I not dead? "What happened?"

"I saved you."

"How?"

"I realized a little while after I left that my cell phone was still here at your apartment and when I came back here to retrieve it I found that you were missing and there was blood near your doorstep. Your door was unlocked so I came inside and could smell another man had just been there, his sweat must have gotten on your carpet when he dragged you inside to bind you with rope to transport you. I made a few calls and the next night I was able to get some people over here to track who took you, I then went to get you." His explanation opened up a whole new avenue of other questions.

"I got stabbed, how am I alive right now?" I breathed, looking down at stomach then back up to him. He smiled at how confused I looked, which I found a little rude. I had every right to be baffled by this, I was bleeding out the last I knew and now I felt like nothing was wrong with me, I felt empowered and strong. It made no sense.

"I fed you my blood, it healed your wounds."

Quickly I made my way to my feet and then ran over to the bathroom to look at myself in the mirror. My mouth hung open with what I saw. My broken nose was perfectly fine, the black eyes I probably should have had were none existent, when I lifted my shirt the skin it exposed was smooth and unscathed, though bloodied. Dumbfounded I blinked a few times and released my shirt. "Your blood can do that?" I yelled from the bathroom and then suddenly Eric was there next to me, surprised I jumped sideways.

"Yes, but you can't tell anyone about it, we do not want humans knowing."

"Uhhh, yeah of course. It's the least I can do after you just saved my life." I smiled and bit nervously at my bottom lip. This was all way too much information to take in at one time but I still had a million questions to ask. "What happened to the guy who took me, did you call the police?" I asked and Eric gave a loud laugh which made me feel naïve.

"The man who took you is dead, I saw to it myself."

"What?"

"I killed him when I saved you." His nonchalance made me cringe. He killed him? What did he do with the body, and the house he was at? Were the police going to find out? Was I going to be arrested because of this, and what about Eric? Do they have a jail for vampires? My head was spinning. Groaning I rubbed my face with my hands slowly, while trying to let everything sink in. "It has been taken care of by some vampires in the area, I just helped them out with something and so it was easy to have the vampires of this area help me with this, especially since the man was a drainer." He explained dryly. "It will never come back to neither you nor I." That was a relief. "You should rest, I will remain in Dallas so that I can come by tomorrow."

"Uh, yeah. Okay. Uhm, thanks for this. Like seriously, thank you. I'd be dead right now if you didn't come save me."

"Of course; I couldn't have another man taking what's mine." Well, that was surely a way to ruin the mood of my thanks with a possessive comment. I sighed. Suddenly Eric grabbed me up and carried me to the bedroom where he placed me softly on my comforter and planted a quick kiss on my lips. "A little reward." He said with a smile. I smiled back as he straightened himself up. "Please don't go off and get yourself kidnapped before I return."

"I'll see what I can do but I can't promise anything."

As the sunlight streamed into my window I found myself waking before I would have liked to. Tired I stretched my limbs out under the sheets and yawned. "How are you feeling Joceline?" Eric's voice was as smooth as the finest silk as it made its way into my ears. I snapped my head to the side where he was lying beside me and gasped. What was he doing here? And in the daylight, shouldn't he be underground somewhere.

"Eric?" My voice easily expressed my confusion. Before I could voice my questions Eric's lips were on mine and I moaned into his mouth. His strong body made its way on top of mine, his skin exciting my sixth sense. After a while I pulled away from him gasping for breath. "You can't be here right now its day time."

"Don't worry about that." He said in a rather sexy tone as his body lowered onto mine. Instantly I noticed he was naked and that he was definitely happy to see me. Oh wow. "I want you to be mine, my delicious Joceline." He breathed as he let his lips fall onto my clavicle, kissing his way up to my neck. "I want you to give yourself to me."

At that moment, I'm not going to lie; I wanted to be his in every way. I knew I detested the idea of belonging to him but I couldn't help but feel a strong attraction to him in a way that I never had before. Maybe it was because he had just saved my life, or maybe my emotions were simply in full force because of the intimate situation or perhaps I was just coming to my sense when it came to him. Whatever the reason may have been all I knew was that I would be his for as long as he would have me. "Yes, completely." I whispered it out to him and let my eyes slowly close.

Suddenly I woke up in my bed in a cold sweat with my hand between my thighs. Shocked I sat up and looked around embarrassed. What was that? Was it really just a dream, it felt completely real. I felt a wave of panic when I thought about what day it was and if I was supposed to be at work. Oh dear. Then an ease passed through my mind when I realized it was Sunday, I didn't have to be back until tomorrow. Relieved I pulled myself out from under the covers and cringed when I looked down. I was still wearing the clothes from when I was stabbed, obviously, and there was dried blood all over my body. Groaning I got out of bed and stripped my clothes off. These sheets and this comforter were done for now. I would need new ones. Screw it, Wal-Mart sheets and blankets from now one, I'm not going to waste my money. I grabbed a handful of my comforter and quickly yanked it. To my surprise I nearly flipped my mattress. I jumped backwards and yipped. Did I not know my own strength? More careful this time I grabbed up my sheets and softly pulled them off. Collecting up all the damaged goods I strolled naked into the kitchen to put them in a garbage bag.

After showering and getting dressed I made my way to the nearest Wal-Mart Supercenter to buy new things and returned home an hour later pleased as punch with my new linens. Though they didn't match my color scheme perfectly they still looked appropriate enough I didn't regret my purchase. After having a light lunch and cleaning up the house it struck seven o'clock before I knew it. A quick glance outside made me aware that the sun was sinking fast into the horizon and that Eric would probably be over here in an hour or two. Just the thought of that sexy Viking made me feel giggly. I shook off a blush that started to spread. What was this, why was I this excited to see him? I found myself starting to get ready for him to come over, fixing and straightening my hair as much as I could, though it desperately needed a wash. I'd do that tomorrow after he returned to Shreveport. I didn't have the time now to accomplish that feat. After an hour and a half I was primed and pretty for whenever he arrived.

Minutes turned into hours which turned into a world of disappointment. Eric Northman never returned to my apartment that night. To say I was sad about it was a definite understatement. I was damn near depressed. The next week crept by slowly and I couldn't help but think about that handsome yet frustrating dead man. It wasn't until a week and a half later that I heard from him one night after work.


End file.
